Chiral Effective Field Theory and the High-Density Nuclear Equation of State

Recent advances in neutron star observations have the potential to constrain the properties of strongly interacting matter at extreme densities and temperatures that are otherwise difficult to access through direct experimental investigation. At the same time, chiral effective field theory has developed into a powerful theoretical framework to study nuclear interactions and nuclear matter properties with quantified uncertainties in the regime of astrophysical interest for modeling neutron stars. In this article, we review recent developments in the chiral effective field theory approach to constructing microscopic nuclear forces and focus on many-body perturbation theory as a computationally efficient tool for calculating the structure, phases, and linear-response properties of hot and dense nuclear matter. We also demonstrate how effective field theory combined with Bayesian methods enables statistically meaningful comparisons between nuclear theory predictions, nuclear experiments, and observational constraints on the nuclear equation of state.