Nuclear Theory·nucl-th

Friday·February 13, 2026

17 papers—6 primary·11 cross-listed

01
[Submitted on 11 Feb 2026]
Rotation catalyzed chiral magnetovortical instability
Shuai Wang🇨🇳 · Xu-Guang Huang🇨🇳
We demonstrate that a background rotation significantly catalyzes the chiral magnetovortical instability in chiral magnetohydrodynamics. The rotation splits the linearly polarized Alfven wave into two circularly polarized magneto-Coriolis waves, one of which exhibits a lower frequency than the original Alfven wave. We find that this low-frequency magneto-Coriolis wave is always unstable in the presence of even a weak chiral vortical effect. This instability may enable new dynamo mechanism applicable to various rotating chiral plasmas.
Comments:
17 pages, 20 figures
Subjects:
Nuclear Theory (nucl-th); High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
arXiv:
2602.11228 [pdf]
PRD(2026)·2 citations
02
[Submitted on 11 Feb 2026]
Generalized gauge-space rotations in atomic nuclei: A critical insight
Chong Qi · Roberto J. Liotta · Ramon Wyss
We critically reexamine the concepts of pairing rotations and moments of inertia in gauge space extracted from experimental binding energies. Our analysis focuses on pairing correlations among like nucleons, neutron-proton pairing, and $α$ -type correlations. By investigating $α$ separation energies and binding-energy differences along chains of fixed isospin projection and subtracting macroscopic contributions, we reveal a remarkably smooth and nearly universal behavior in the residual $α$ correlation energy. These results exhibit the parabolic trends characteristic of collective rotations in gauge space. We demonstrate that the standard definition of the gauge-space moment of inertia for like-nucleon pairing is dominated by macroscopic contributions from Coulomb and symmetry energies. Once these are removed, the remaining moment of inertia becomes negative. This suggests that the observed behavior reflects the loss of correlation energy due to Pauli-blocking effect. Our results indicate that $α$ correlations constitute a genuine collective mode associated with quartetting dynamics arising from the coherent coupling of two superfluid components.
Subjects:
Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2602.11299 [pdf]
0 citations
03
[Submitted on 11 Feb 2026]
Partial conservation of seniority in semi-magic nuclei
Chong Qi
The concept of seniority plays a central role in nuclear structure physics by classifying many-body states according to the number of unpaired nucleons. While exact seniority conservation holds in single- $j$ systems with $j \leq 7/2$ , deviations arise for higher- $j$ orbitals where residual interactions can mix states of different seniority. Surprisingly, certain states in systems with $j \geq 9/2$ exhibit partial conservation of seniority, remaining solvable even when the symmetry is expected to break. This paper reviews the theoretical foundation of the seniority scheme, its connection to pairing interactions and coefficients of fractional parentage, and the conditions under which solvability persists. Particular emphasis is placed on the $j = 9/2$ case, where two $v = 4$ states with $I = 4$ and $I = 6$ remain unmixed under arbitrary interactions. We discuss analytical proofs of their existence, numerical studies, and supporting experimental evidence from semi-magic nuclei across five regions of the nuclear chart. Extensions to symbolic shell-model approaches are also presented, highlighting their utility in exploring wave functions and symmetries in many-body systems.
Subjects:
Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2602.11308 [pdf]
EPJA(2026)·4 citations
04
[Submitted on 12 Feb 2026]
Producing $Λ (1405)$ and $Λ (1520)$ in $π^{-} p$ reaction to explore their inner structures
Yuan Gao🇨🇳 · Xiao-Yun Wang🇨🇳 · Xiang Liu🇨🇳
In this work, the production mechanisms of the hyperon resonances $Λ (1405)$ and $Λ (1520)$ in the $π^{-} p$ scattering are investigated within an effective Lagrangian approach incorporating Regge trajectories. By including contributions from $t$ -channel $K^{*}$ and $u$ -channel $Σ$ exchanges, we perform global fits to the total and differential cross sections for $π^{-} p \to K Λ (1405)$ and $π^{-} p \to K Λ (1520)$ . The results show good agreement with available experimental data. For the total cross section of $Λ (1405)$ production, the $u$ -channel contribution is dominant, whereas the $t$ -channel contribution plays the primary role in $Λ (1520)$ production. Furthermore, the differential cross sections of the two processes exhibit distinctly different shapes, reflecting their distinct underlying reaction mechanisms. An analysis based on the constituent counting rule indicates that $Λ (1520)$ is consistent with a conventional three-quark configuration, while $Λ (1405)$ shows a clear deviation, suggesting a more exotic structure. Owing to the large branching ratio of $Λ^{*} \to π Σ$ , the Dalitz process $π^{-} p \to K Λ^{*} \to K π Σ$ is also calculated. Our results demonstrate that reconstructing $Λ^{*}$ via the $K π Σ$ final state is experimentally feasible. This study provides important theoretical insights into the production dynamics of these hyperon resonances, and suggests future high-precision measurements of the $t$ -distribution at large momentum transfer at facilities such as AMBER, J-PARC, HIKE, and HIAF, which can further clarify their reaction mechanisms and structural properties.
Comments:
11 pages, 18 figures
Subjects:
Nuclear Theory (nucl-th); High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); High Energy Physics — Theory (hep-th)
arXiv:
2602.11480 [pdf]
PRD(2026)·3 citations
05
[Submitted on 12 Feb 2026]
Two-Pion Exchange Contributions to the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction from the Roper Resonance
Yang Xiao🇰🇷 · Li-Sheng Geng🇨🇳 · U. van Kolck🇮🇹
We derive the long-range components of the nucleon-nucleon (NN) two-pion-exchange potential with an intermediate Roper resonance. Leading-order interactions in heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory are considered. NN phase shifts with orbital angular momentum $L \geq 2$ are calculated in first-order perturbation theory and compared to those obtained without the Roper resonance. We show that the Roper contribution is sizeable for $D$ waves and improves the description of phase shifts for all the partial waves slightly. We also discuss the role of the Roper resonance in the NN interaction in the framework of resonance saturation.
Comments:
We correct a factor in the triangle-diagram contribution and update the corresponding expressions
Subjects:
Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2602.11815 [pdf]
2 citations
06
[Submitted on 12 Feb 2026]
Medium effects on light clusters from heavy-ion collisions within a relativistic mean-field description
Tiago Custódio🇵🇹 · Francesca Gulminelli🇫🇷 · Alex Rebillard-Soulié🇫🇷 · Diego Gruyer🇫🇷 · Rémi Bougault🇫🇷 · Tuhin Malik🇵🇹 · Helena Pais🇵🇹 · Constança Providência🇵🇹
Central $^{136, 124}$ Xe $+^{124, 112}$ Sn collisions from INDRA data are analysed using a Bayesian inference on light nuclei multiplicities to estimate the thermodynamical parameters and in-medium modification of the cluster self-energies within a relativistic mean-field model. An excellent description of experimentally measured abundances of H and He isotopes is obtained. We examine two possible modelling of in-medium effects as an increased in-medium effective mass, or an increased vector repulsion. We show that these physical pictures cannot be discriminated by the data. In both cases, the temperature dependence of the meson couplings leads to a faster weakening of the light cluster abundances with temperature than previous studies predicted. Possible systematic errors due to out-of-equilibrium effects affecting the experimental abundances, are considered by repeating the Bayesian inference with reduced information. The abundance prediction of the species excluded from the constraint is well compatible with the experimental data, suggesting that there is no a priori need of accounting for non-equilibrium effects or finite state interactions that potentially affect the deuteron yield.
Subjects:
Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
arXiv:
2602.11996 [pdf]
PRC(2026)·0 citations

Affiliations

first authorsco-authorsvia INSPIRE

Rotation catalyzed chiral magnetovortical instability

Generalized gauge-space rotations in atomic nuclei: A critical insight

Partial conservation of seniority in semi-magic nuclei

Producing Λ(1405) and Λ(1520) in π−p reaction to explore their inner structures

Two-Pion Exchange Contributions to the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction from the Roper Resonance

Medium effects on light clusters from heavy-ion collisions within a relativistic mean-field description

Affiliations

Producing $Λ (1405)$ and $Λ (1520)$ in $π^{-} p$ reaction to explore their inner structures