Nuclear Theory·nucl-th

Tuesday·June 24, 2025

15 papers—8 primary·7 cross-listed

09
[Submitted on 20 Jun 2025] (cross-list from hep-ph)
Nuclear Cold QCD: Review and Future Strategy
F. Arleo🇫🇷 · P. Caucal🇫🇷 · A. Deshpande🇺🇸 · J. M. Durham🇺🇸 · G. M. Innocenti🇺🇸 · J. Jalilian-Marian🇺🇸 · A. Kusina🇵🇱 · M. X. Liu🇺🇸 · Y. Mehtar-Tani🇺🇸 · C.-J. Naïm🇺🇸 · H. Paukkunen🇫🇮 · S. Platchkov🇫🇷 and 3 other authors
This review examines data from hadron-nucleus collisions, primarily focusing on hard processes like Drell-Yan, heavy flavor and quarkonium production. It highlights observed modifications of particle yields as functions of momentum and rapidity, aiming to clarify the underlying QCD effects in cold nuclear matter (CNM). The paper outlines strategies for future experiments, including the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), to distinguish between these effects. Key questions address the universality of suppression mechanisms and the role of non-perturbative physics, providing a road map for upcoming nuclear data.
Comments:
43 pages, 20 figures
Subjects:
High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); High Energy Physics — Experiment (hep-ex); High Energy Physics — Theory (hep-th); Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.17454 [pdf]
PRC(2026)·15 citations
10
[Submitted on 21 Jun 2025] (cross-list from astro-ph.HE)
Three-dimensional equation of state extension of quark matter in Fermi-liquid theory
Zhenyu Zhu🇺🇸 · Shuai Zha🇨🇳 · Sophia Han🇨🇳
The cold, dense matter equation of state (EoS) determines crucial global properties of neutron stars (NSs), including the mass, radius and tidal deformability. However, a one-dimensional (1D), cold, and $β$ -equilibrated EoS is insufficient to fully describe the interactions or capture the dynamical processes of dense matter as realized in binary neutron star (BNS) mergers or core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), where thermal and out-of-equilibrium effects play important roles. We develop a method to self-consistently extend a 1D cold and $β$ -equilibrated EoS of quark matter to a full three-dimensional (3D) version, accounting for density, temperature, and electron fraction dependencies, within the framework of Fermi-liquid theory (FLT), incorporating both thermal and out-of-equilibrium contributions. We compare our FLT-extended EoS with the original bag model and find that our approach successfully reproduces the contributions of thermal and compositional dependencies of the 3D EoS. Furthermore, we construct a 3D EoS with a first-order phase transition (PT) by matching our 3D FLT-extended quark matter EoS to the hadronic DD2 EoS under Maxwell construction, and test it through the GRHD simulations of the TOV-star and CCSN explosion. Both simulations produce consistent results with previous studies, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of our 3D EoS construction with PT.
Comments:
17 pages, 10 figures
Subjects:
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.17569 [pdf]
PRD(2025)·5 citations
11
[Submitted on 21 Jun 2025] (cross-list from nucl-ex)
Imaging nuclear shape through anisotropic and radial flow in high-energy heavy-ion collisions
STAR Collaboration
Most atomic nuclei exhibit ellipsoidal shapes characterized by quadrupole deformation $β_{2}$ and triaxiality $γ$ , and sometimes even a pear-like octupole deformation $β_{3}$ . The STAR experiment introduced a new "imaging-by-smashing" technique [arXiv:2401.06625, arXiv:2501.16071] to image the nuclear global shape by colliding nuclei at ultra-relativistic speeds and analyzing outgoing debris. Features of nuclear shape manifest in collective observables like anisotropic flow $v_{n}$ and radial flow via mean transverse momentum $[p_{T}]$ . We present new measurements of the variances of $v_{n}$ ( $n = 2$ , 3, and 4) and $[p_{T}]$ , and the covariance of $v_{n}^{2}$ with $[p_{T}]$ , in collisions of highly deformed $^{238}$ U and nearly spherical $^{197}$ Au. Ratios of these observables between the two systems effectively suppress common final-state effects, isolating the strong impact of uranium's deformation. By comparing results with state-of-the-art hydrodynamic model calculations, we extract $β_{2 U}$ and $γ_{U}$ values consistent with those deduced from low-energy nuclear structure measurements. Measurements of $v_{3}$ and its correlation with $[p_{T}]$ also provide the first experimental suggestion of a possible octupole deformation for $^{238}$ U. These findings provide significant support for using high-energy collisions to explore nuclear shapes on femtosecond timescales, with implications for both nuclear structure and quark-gluon plasma studies.
Comments:
20 pages, 29 figures + an appendix
Subjects:
Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex); High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.17785 [pdf]
Rept.Prog.Phys.(2025)·40 citations
12
[Submitted on 23 Jun 2025] (cross-list from hep-ph)
Existence of nuclear modifications on longitudinal-transverse structure-function ratio
S. Kumano🇨🇳
It has been assumed that nuclear modification does not exist in the longitudinal-transverse structure-function ratio $R_{N} = F_{L}^{N} / (2 x F_{1}^{N})$ in lepton deep inelastic scattering. This assumption is widely used in obtaining structure functions of the "nucleon" from nuclear data such as the deuteron ones. However, nuclear modifications do exist theoretically at least in medium- and large- $x$ regions because nucleons in a nucleus move in any direction, which is not necessarily the longitudinal direction of the virtual-photon or weak-boson momentum in lepton scattering. Because of this transverse motion, the nucleon's transverse and longitudinal structure functions should mix with each other in nuclei with the mixture probability proportional to the nucleon's transverse momentum squared $p_{T}^{2} / Q^{2}$ . In this work, numerical results are explicitly shown regarding such nuclear modifications in the deuteron. These nuclear modifications are important for determining precise structure functions of the nucleon. Furthermore, modifications of $R_{N}$ should be investigated also at small $x$ by the future electron-ion collider to find interesting gluon dynamics in nuclei. Hopefully, this nuclear effect of $R_{N}$ could be found by future experimental measurements at lepton accelerator facilities.
Comments:
6 pages, 3 figures, Physical Review C in press
Subjects:
High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); High Energy Physics — Experiment (hep-ex); High Energy Physics — Lattice (hep-lat); Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.18305 [pdf]
PRC(2026)·2 citations
13
[Submitted on 23 Jun 2025] (cross-list from quant-ph)
Systematic improvement of the quantum approximate optimisation ansatz for combinatorial optimisation using quantum subspace expansion
Yann Beaujeault-Taudière
The quantum approximate optimisation ansatz (QAOA) is one of the flagship algorithms used to tackle combinatorial optimisation on graphs problems using a quantum computer, and is considered a strong candidate for early fault-tolerant advantage. In this work, I study the enhancement of the QAOA with a generator coordinate method (GCM), and achieve systematic performances improvements in the approximation ratio and fidelity for the maximal independent set on Erdös-Rényi graphs. The cost-to-solution of the present method and the QAOA are compared by analysing the number of logical CNOT and $T$ gates required for either algorithm. Extrapolating on the numerical results obtained, it is estimated that for this specific problem and setup, the approach surpasses QAOA for graphs of size greater than 75 using as little as eight trial states. The potential of the method for other combinatorial optimisation problems is briefly discussed.
Comments:
13 pages, 10 figures. Remarks/comments welcome
Subjects:
Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.18594 [pdf]
0 citations
14
[Submitted on 23 Jun 2025] (cross-list from gr-qc)
$g$ -mode oscillations of dark matter admixed neutron stars
Swarnim Shirke🇮🇳 · Debarati Chatterjee🇮🇳 · Prashanth Jaikumar🇺🇸
We investigate $g$ -mode oscillations in dark matter admixed neutron stars employing a relativistic mean field model to describe hadronic matter and a model for self-interacting fermionic dark matter motivated by the neutron decay anomaly. Following the construction of such admixed configurations, we derive the equilibrium and adiabatic speeds of sound therein, leading to a computation of the star's $g$ -mode spectrum in the Cowling approximation. In particular, we explore the effect of dark matter self-interaction, the nucleon effective mass and dark matter fraction on the principal $g$ -mode frequency, and its first overtone. We show that the effect on $g$ -mode frequency depends predominantly on the dark matter fraction, and demonstrate an equation of state-independent constraint for the latter. Prospects of identifying the presence of dark matter in neutron stars using $g$ -mode are discussed.
Comments:
13 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted version. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Subjects:
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.18892 [pdf]
MNRAS(2025)·9 citations
15
[Submitted on 23 Jun 2025] (cross-list from hep-ph)
Relativistic corrections to exclusive photoproduction of Quarkonia near-threshold
Sarah K. Blask🇺🇸 · Sean Fleming🇺🇸 · Thomas Mehen🇺🇸 · Jyotirmoy Roy🇺🇸 · Iain W. Stewart🇺🇸 · Fanyi Zhao🇺🇸
Non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) is used to calculate the relativistic correction to the amplitude for exclusive photoproduction of vector Quarkonia in the near-threshold region within the generalized parton distribution (GPD) framework. The relativistic corrections are found to be large for $J / ψ$ , and lead to a breakdown of the GPD moment expansion near threshold. Cross-sections for both $J / ψ$ and $Υ$ are calculated with the former being compared to the data. We also demonstrate the presence of endpoint divergences for the relativistic correction away from the near-threshold regime.
Comments:
17 pages, 7 figures, additional calculations and discussion added, new figures added, typographical errors fixed
Subjects:
High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2506.18905 [pdf]
JHEP(2026)·5 citations

Affiliations

first authorsco-authorsvia INSPIRE

Nuclear Cold QCD: Review and Future Strategy

Three-dimensional equation of state extension of quark matter in Fermi-liquid theory

Imaging nuclear shape through anisotropic and radial flow in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

Existence of nuclear modifications on longitudinal-transverse structure-function ratio

Systematic improvement of the quantum approximate optimisation ansatz for combinatorial optimisation using quantum subspace expansion

g-mode oscillations of dark matter admixed neutron stars

Relativistic corrections to exclusive photoproduction of Quarkonia near-threshold

Affiliations

$g$ -mode oscillations of dark matter admixed neutron stars