From QCD symmetries to nuclei and neutron stars

Global symmetries and symmetry breaking patterns of QCD with light quarks, in particular chiral symmetry, provide basic guidance not only for low-energy hadron physics but also for nuclear forces and the nuclear many-body problem. Recent developments of Chiral Effective Field Theory (ChEFT) applications to nuclear and neutron matter are summarized, with special emphasis on a (nonperturbative) extension using functional renormalization group methods. Topics include: nuclear thermodynamics, extrapolations to dense baryonic matter and constraints from neutron star observables.