Scale-Invariant Hidden Local Symmetry, Topology Change and Dense Baryonic Matter

When scale symmetry is implemented into hidden local symmetry in low-energy strong interactions to arrive at a scale-invariant hidden local symmetric (HLS) theory, the scalar $f_0(500)$ may be interpreted as pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone (pNG) boson, i.e., dilaton, of spontaneously broken scale invariance, joining the pseudo-scalar pNG bosons $\pi$ and the matter fields $V=(\rho,\omega)$ as relevant degrees of freedom. Implementing the skyrmion-half-skyrmion transition predicted at large $N_c$ in QCD at a density roughly twice the nuclear matter density found in the crystal simulation of dense skyrmion matter, we determine the intrinsically density-dependent (IDD) "bare parameters" of the scale-invariant HLS Lagrangian matched to QCD at a matching scale $\Lambda_M$. The resulting effective Lagrangian, with the parameters scaling with the density of the system, is applied to nuclear matter and dense baryonic matter relevant to massive compact stars by means of the double-decimation renormalization-group $V_{lowk}$ formalism. We satisfactorily post-dict the properties of normal nuclear matter and more significantly {\it predict} the EoS of dense compact-star matter that quantitatively accounts for the presently available data coming from both the terrestrial and space laboratories. We interpret the resulting structure of compact-star matter as revealing how the combination of hidden-scale symmetry and hidden local symmetry manifests itself in compressed baryonic matter.