Estimate of correlation effects in relativistic mean-field theories of nuclei

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Abstract
We consider the recently developed relativistic mean-field theory of nuclei. Exchange of scalar and vector mesons between slowly moving nucleons leads to an effective static potential interaction. We solve the Bethe-Goldstone equation for this static interaction in order to estimate the order of magnitude of the corrections to the theory due to short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations. We find that the masses of the scalar and vector mesons must be made quite small before the Hartree approximation is a reasonable first approximation.