A previous study of nuclear matter in a chiral nucleon-meson model is extended to isospin-asymmetric matter. Fluctuations beyond mean-field approximation are treated in the framework of the functional renormalization group. The nuclear liquid-gas phase transition is investigated in detail as a function of the proton fraction in asymmetric matter. The equations of state at zero temperature of both symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter are found to be in good agreement with realistic many-body computations. We also study the density dependence of the pion mass in the medium. The question of chiral symmetry restoration in neutron matter is addressed; we find a stabilization of the phase with spontaneously broken chiral symmetry once fluctuations are included. Finally, neutron star matter including beta equilibrium is discussed. The model satisfies the constraints imposed by the existence of two-solar-mass neutron stars.

Functional renormalization group (FRG) methods applied to calculations of isospinsymmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter as well as neutron matter are reviewed. The approach is based on a chiral Lagrangian expressed in terms of nucleon and meson degrees of freedom as appropriate for the hadronic phase of QCD with spontaneously broken chiral symmetry. Fluctuations beyond mean-field approximation are treated solving Wetterich's FRG flow equations. Nuclear thermodynamics and the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition are investigated in detail, both in symmetric matter and as a function of the proton fraction in asymmetric matter. The equations of state at zero temperature of symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter are found to be in good agreement with advanced ab-initio many-body computations. Contacts with perturbative many-body approaches (in-medium chiral perturbation theory) are discussed. As an interesting test case, the density dependence of the pion mass in the medium is investigated. The question of chiral symmetry restoration in nuclear and neutron matter is addressed. A stabilization of the phase with spontaneously broken chiral symmetry is found to persist up to high baryon densities once fluctuations beyond mean-field are included. Neutron star matter including beta equilibrium is discussed under the aspect of the constraints imposed by the existence of two-solar-mass neutron stars.

Studies of the QCD phase diagram must properly include nucleonic degrees of freedom and their thermodynamics in the range of baryon chemical potentials characteristic of nuclear matter. A useful framework for incorporating relevant nuclear physics constraints in this context is a chiral nucleon-meson effective Lagrangian. In the present paper, such a chiral nucleon-meson model is extended with systematic inclusion of mesonic fluctuations using the functional renormalization group approach. The resulting description of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition shows a remarkable agreement with three-loop calculations based on in-medium chiral effective field theory. No signs of a chiral first-order phase transition and its critical endpoint are found in the region of applicability of the model, i.e. up to twice the density of normal nuclear matter and at temperatures T 100 MeV. Fluctuations close to the critical point of the first-order liquid-gas transition are also examined with a detailed study of chiral and baryon number susceptibilities.