Nuclear Theory

arXiv:nucl-th

Theory of nuclear structure and reactions.

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Toward $\textit{Ab Initio}$ Quantum Simulations of Atomic Nuclei Using Noisy Qubits

Quantum computers are expected to provide a ultimate solver for quantum many-body systems, although it is a tremendous challenge to achieve that goal on current noisy quantum devices. This work illustrated quantum simulations of ab initio no-core shell model calculations of $^3$H with chiral two-nucleon and three-nucleon forces. The measurement costs are remarkably reduced by using the general commutativity measurement together with the asymptotic optimization. In addition, the noise causes serious contaminations of configurations with undesired particle numbers, and the accuracies are much improved by applying the particle number projected measurement. By tackling the efficiency and noise issues, this work demonstrated a substantial step toward ab initio quantum computing of atomic nuclei.

2601.00315

Jan 2026Nuclear Theory

Leptophilic Interactions in Nuclear Energy Density Functional Theory

We develop a unified theoretical framework that embeds a light leptophilic vector boson into nuclear energy density functional (EDF) theory. Starting from an underlying leptophilic gauge interaction, the mediator is integrated out in the static limit, yielding an effective current--current interaction that couples proton and lepton densities. This interaction is incorporated self-consistently into relativistic mean-field equations, defining a leptophilic extension of conventional nuclear EDFs. The resulting leptophilic EDF induces correlated modifications of proton and lepton chemical potentials, directly affecting beta equilibrium in dense matter. In uniform matter, these effects lead to percent-level changes in the proton fraction, symmetry energy, and equation of state within phenomenologically allowed parameter ranges. In finite nuclei, the modified proton mean field generates shifts of $10^{-3}$--$10^{-2}\,\mathrm{fm}$ in neutron-skin thicknesses, comparable to current experimental sensitivities. Our results demonstrate that light leptophilic interactions leave coherent and experimentally accessible imprints on both nuclear structure and dense-matter observables. The framework introduced here provides a controlled and realistic extension of nuclear EDF theory, enabling nuclear systems to serve as laboratories for probing new physics in the leptonic sector.

2512.11770

Dec 2025Nuclear Theory

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Nuclear Experiment

403 papers

A Universal Upper Bound on the Pressure-to-Energy Density Ratio in Neutron Stars

The equation-of-state (EOS) parameter $φ\equiv P/\varepsilon$, defined as the ratio of pressure to energy density, encapsulates the fundamental response of matter under extreme compression. Its value at the center of the most massive neutron star (NS), $\x \equiv φ_{\rm c} = P_{\rm c}/\varepsilon_{\rm c}$, sets a universal upper bound on the maximum denseness attainable by any form of visible matter anywhere in the Universe. Remarkably, owing to the intrinsically nonlinear structure of the EOS in General Relativity (GR), this bound is forced to lie far below the naive Special Relativity (SR) limit of unity. In this work, we refine the theoretical upper bound on $\x$ in a self-consistent manner by incorporating, in addition to the causality constraint from SR, the mass-sphere stability condition associated with the mass evolution pattern in the vicinity of the NS center. This condition is formulated within the intrinsic-and-perturbative analysis of the dimensionless Tolman--Oppenheimer--Volkoff equations (IPAD-TOV) framework. The combined constraints yield an improved bound, $\x \lesssim 0.385$, which is slightly above but fully consistent with the previously derived causal-only limit, $\x \lesssim 0.374$. We further derive an improved scaling relation for NS compactness and verify its universality across a broad set of 284 realistic EOSs, including models with first-order phase transitions, exotic degrees of freedom, continuous crossover behavior, and deconfined quark cores. The resulting bound on $\x$ thus provides a new, EOS-independent window into the microphysics of cold superdense matter compressed by strong-field gravity in GR.

2601.02980Jan 2026

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Toward $\textit{Ab Initio}$ Quantum Simulations of Atomic Nuclei Using Noisy Qubits

2601.00315Jan 2026

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Dissipative corrections to the particle momentum spectrum of a decoupling fluid

We present an \emph{ab initio} calculation within quantum statistical field theory and linear response theory, of the dissipative correction to the momentum spectrum of scalar particles emitted at decoupling (freeze-out) from a relativistic fluid assuming the initial state to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium. We obtain an expansion of the Wigner function of the interacting quantum field in terms of the gradients of the classical thermo-hydrodynamic fields - four-temperature vector and reduced chemical potential - evaluated on the initial local-equilibrium hypersurface, rather than on the decoupling (freeze-out) hypersurface as usual in kinetic theory. The gradient expansion includes an unexpected zeroth order term depending on the differences between thermo-hydrodynamic fields at the decoupling and the initial hypersurface. This term encodes a memory of the initial state which is related to the long-distance persistence of the correlation function between Wigner operator and stress-energy tensor and charged current that is discussed in detail. We address the phenomenological implications of these corrections for the momentum spectra measured in relativistic nuclear collisions.

2512.24994Dec 2025

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Non-Equilibrium Dynamics in QCD and Holography

The plasma generated in heavy ion collisions goes through different phases in its time evolution. While early times right after the collision are governed by far-from equilibrium dynamics, later times are believed to be well described by near-equilibrium dynamics. While the regimes of non-equilibrium are prohibitively complicated to describe within QCD, effective descriptions such as hydrodynamics provide a viable approach. In addition, holographic descriptions allow access to the full non-equilibrium dynamics at strong coupling. In this presentation, we review three examples of such hydrodynamic approaches and corresponding holographic descriptions: 1) non-equilibrium shear viscosity, 2) propagation of non-equilibrium sound waves, and 3) the non-equilibrium chiral magnetic effect.

2512.24909Dec 2025

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2512.23456

Poles from the conserved kinetic equation : The emerging gradient structure and causality riddle of relativistic hydrodynamics

In this work, the poles and the resulting dispersion spectra from the relativistic kinetic equation have been analyzed with the help of a proposed collision kernel that conserves both the energy-momentum tensor and particle current by construction. The dispersion relations, which originally come out in the form of logarithmic divergences, in the long wavelength limit exhibit the systematic gradient structure of the relativistic hydrodynamics. The key result is that, in the derivative expansion series, the spatial gradients appear in perfect unison with the temporal gradients in the non-local relaxation operator like forms. It is then shown that this dispersion structure, including non-local temporal derivatives, is essential for the preservation of causality of the theory truncated at any desired order.

2512.23456Dec 2025

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Neutron Star Equation of State with Nucleon Short-Range Correlations: A Concise Review and Open Issues

Nucleon short-range correlations (SRCs) and the associated high-momentum tail (HMT) in its momentum distribution $n(k)$ represent a universal feature of strongly interacting Fermi systems. In nuclear matter, SRCs arise primarily from the spin-isospin dependence of the tensor and short-range components of the nucleon-nucleon interaction, leading to a substantial depletion of its Fermi sea and a characteristic $k^{-4}$ tail populated predominantly by isosinglet neutron-proton pairs. These microscopic structures modify both the kinetic and interaction contributions to the Equation of State (EOS) of dense matter and thereby influence a broad range of neutron-star (NS) properties. This short review provides a streamlined overview of how SRC-induced changes in $n(k)$ reshape the kinetic EOS, including its symmetry energy part and how these effects propagate into macroscopic NS observables, including mass-radius relations, tidal deformabilities, direct Urca thresholds and core-crust transition. We summarize key existing results, highlight current observational constraints relevant for testing SRC-HMT effects, and outline open questions for future theoretical, experimental, and multimessenger studies of dense nucleonic matter.

2512.23455Dec 2025

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Dissociation driven quarkonium spin alignment in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV

The observation of spin alignment of quarkonia in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions provides deep insight into the possible formation of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The present study investigates the spin alignment of quarkonia induced by dissociation mechanisms arising from medium effects imposed on quarkonia. We implement an effective Hamiltonian with a medium-modified color-singlet potential to incorporate the coupling of quarkonium spin with medium vorticity. This coupling gives rise to spin-dependent dissociation, which we identify as a plausible mechanism contributing to quarkonium spin alignment. Within the ambit of second-order relativistic viscous hydrodynamics, we calculate the spin-dependent decay widths of charmonium ($J/ψ$, $ψ$(2S)) and bottomonium ($Υ$(1S), $Υ$(2S)) in a rotating thermal medium, including collisional damping and gluonic dissociation effects. We evaluate the observable $ρ_{00}$ for Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV as a function of transverse momentum of the quarkonia, charged particle multiplicity, and medium rotation. The results demonstrate that medium vorticity modifies the quarkonia net decay width and, as a consequence, quarkonia spin alignment gets modified. These findings suggest new directions for understanding spin transport and the microscopic dynamics of vortical QGP.

2512.18728Dec 2025

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Relativistic superfluid profiles near critical surfaces

Landau's two-fluid model of superfluidity ceases to apply in regions where the condensate amplitude exhibits rapid spatial variation, such as vortex cores or in the vicinity of container walls. A recently proposed relativistic Gross-Pitaevskii-type framework treats the condensate as an independent scalar degree of freedom, enabling a controlled analysis of such regimes. We use it to construct stationary superflows close to the superfluid-normal phase boundary, and examine their stability. We obtain an exact expression for Landau's critical velocity and show that the standard Newtonian profiles (such as the near-vortex condensate depletion or the boundary-layer decay) persist unmodified in the relativistic setting. We further analyse a genuinely relativistic configuration in which an accelerated superfluid develops a phase boundary induced by Tolman temperature gradients.

2512.16797Dec 2025

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Entangled two-proton emission from 16Ne and its sensitivity to diproton correlation

We discuss how the spin correlation, which reflects the quantum entanglement between two fermions, can serve as a probe of diproton correlation in the two-proton ($2p$) emission. We investigated the 16Ne nucleus using the time-dependent three-body (14O + 2p) model, and found that the $2p$-spin correlation exceeded the limit of local-hidden-variable (LHV) theory when the initial state had a spin-singlet diproton configuration. In contrast, for other configurations, it was remarkably reduced. This suggests that a strong initial diproton correlation is essential to generate a spin correlation nearly identical to that of a pure spin-singlet diproton. Such sensitivity indicates that $2p$-spin correlation can serve as a sensitive probe of diproton configurations, which could facilitate future studies on quantum entanglement and spin-dependent phenomena in atomic nuclei as well as in broader multi-fermion systems.

2512.15879Dec 2025

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Leptophilic Interactions in Nuclear Energy Density Functional Theory

2512.11770Dec 2025

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Low-energy enhancement in the magnetic dipole radiation of actinide nuclei

We present the first theoretical results of the magnetic dipole (M1) $γ$-ray strength function ($γ$SF) for actinide nuclei within the shell-model Monte Carlo (SMMC) method. We observe a low-energy enhancement (LEE) in the M1 $γ$SFs of the six nuclei studied here, which serves as the first evidence, theoretical or experimental, that the LEE persists in the actinides. We also identify a scissors mode resonance in all six nuclei, which we compare with recent Oslo-method experiments.

2511.11565Nov 2025

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NJL-Chiral Soliton and the Nucleon Equation of State at supra-saturation density: Impact of Chiral Symmetry Restoration

It has been conjectured that, at sufficiently high baryon densities, the equation of state (EoS) of bulk nuclear matter can be identified with that of the nucleon core. In this work, we illustrate how the energy density and pressure distributions inside individual nucleons can be utilized to construct the EoS of supra-dense matter. In our framework, nucleons arise as topological solitons stabilized by vector mesons, which are dynamically generated through the path integral bosonization of an underlying Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. The restoration of chiral symmetry is implemented dynamically via a self-consistent, density-dependent scalar field, which modifies the (isovector) and (isoscalar) channels of the soliton. We analyze the resulting changes in soliton properties for different NJL parameter sets and demonstrate that the progressive restoration of chiral symmetry leads to a stiffening of the soliton-based EoS, making it compatible with existing neutron star EoSs. An EoS constructed from the solutions of the energy-density and pressure profiles at the center of the nucleon is also explored.

2511.11167Nov 2025

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New constraints on equation of state of hot QCD matter

The longitudinal structure of the quark-gluon plasma(QGP) remains a key challenge in heavy-ion physics. In this Letter, we propose a novel observable, event-by-event mean transverse momentum fluctuations Var$_{\langle p_{T} \rangle}$, which is sensitive to the local pressure gradients and serves as a probe of longitudinal dynamics in the initial state of QGP. We demonstrate that the covariance of averaged transverse momentum at two rapidities $\mathrm{Cov}_{\langle p_T \rangle}(η_1, η_2)$ and its associated decorrelation measures, $R_{p_T}(η_1, η_2)$ and $r_{p_T}(η, η_{\mathrm{ref}})$, exhibit strong sensitivity to the stiffness of equation of state (EoS) of QGP, while showing negligible dependence on the QGP transport coefficients. This distinctive behavior, revealed through state-of-the-art (3+1)-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, establishes a powerful approach for constraining the EoS of QCD matter. In the meantime, our results provide new insights into the longitudinal structure of the QGP and its properties under high baryon density.

2511.11094Nov 2025

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Constraining Neutron Capture Cross Sections for $^{88}\mathrm{Y}$ with Gamma-ray Strength Function in $(p,p^\primeγ)$ Surrogate Reaction

We demonstrate to extract $^{88}\mathrm{Y}(n,γ)$ cross sections using the $(p,p'γ)$ surrogate reaction with proper treatment of the spin-parity distribution of the compound nucleus $^{89}\mathrm{Y}$. Experimental data of both $γ$-decay probability and $γ$-ray strength function are used to constrain the nuclear model parameters within a computational framework combining the Bayesian optimization and Markov chain Monte Carlo method, which helps to significantly reduce the $(n,γ)$ data uncertainty. The $^{88}\mathrm{Y}(n,γ)$ cross sections are then extracted with a narrow uncertainty of 7.6\%-23.1\% within neutron energy range of 0.01 to 3.0 MeV for the first time, where no experimental data are available. Moreover, our method is verified with the $^{88}\mathrm{Sr}(p,γ)$ reaction, of which the measured data are available for comparison. This work opens interesting perspectives on the matter of extracting ($n,γ$) reaction cross sections on unstable nuclei as surrogate reaction experiments are becoming widely available.

2511.10955Nov 2025

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Friction terms in multi-fluid description of heavy-ion collisions

In multi-fluid description of heavy-ion collisions, the primary scatterings and particle production are described in terms of interaction between fluids, so called friction. These friction terms can be derived from kinetic theory, but they are not unique. We compare different approaches to derive the friction terms, introduce a new ``charge transfer" friction, which allows to move charge to the midrapidity fireball, and implement them in the MUFFIN model. The charge transfer friction is more consistent with the assumption of three fluids clearly separated in momentum space, and allows better comparisons of the experimental data and underlying equation of state. It also leaves room for entropy generation due to dissipation in individual fluids, and we present the first results obtained using viscous multi-fluid dynamics.

2511.10487Nov 2025

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Emulation of Proton-Deuteron Scattering via the Reduced Basis Method and Active Learning: Detailed Description

Nucleon-deuteron ($Nd$) scattering can be used to constrain three-nucleon forces in chiral effective field theory ($χ$EFT). However, high-fidelity calculations, such as the Hyperspherical Harmonic (HH) method, are computationally expensive, making it difficult or even prohibitive to explore the vast parameter space of $χ$EFT\xspace. To address this challenge, specifically for proton-deuteron ($pd$) scattering below the deuteron breakup threshold, we developed model-driven emulators based on the Reduced Basis Method (RBM) and active learning techniques, as presented in \href{https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.01844}{arXiv:2511.01844}. The method exploits the similarities between solutions at different parameter points to significantly reduce computational costs. In this companion paper, we provide a comprehensive description of our HH-based high-fidelity calculations and implementation of both variational-method-based and Galerkin-projection-based scattering emulators. We demonstrate the effectiveness of active learning in the form of greedy algorithms for selecting optimal training points in the parameter space, and the high accuracy and speed of the emulators, for two different nucleon forces and two scattering channels (${1/2}^+$ and ${1/2}^-$). For example, in a two-dimensional parameter space, the relative emulation errors can be reduced to $10^{-7}$ with fewer than 10 training points. Our work paves the way for the efficient calibration of $χ$EFT\xspace nucleon interactions using Bayesian statistics, and the methodology can be applied to other nuclear scattering processes (including neutron-deuteron scattering), as well as other finite quantum systems.

2511.10420Nov 2025

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Radii of proton emitters

Nuclear radius is a fundamental structural observable that informs many properties of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter. Experimental studies of radii in dripline nuclei are in the forefront of research with radioactive ion beams. Of particular interest are charge radii of proton-unbound nuclei that will soon be approached in laser spectroscopy. In this paper, using the complex-energy approach and direct time propagation, we investigate the radius of the proton resonance whose size is ill-defined in the standard stationary quantum-mechanical description. An early-time plateau is identified during which the radius of the Gamow resonance coincides with the real-energy radius accessible experimentally. We demonstrate a non-monotonic dependence of the complex radius on decay energy and a local increase of the charge radius across the threshold (a proton halo effect).

2511.10238Nov 2025

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Nuclear surface energy solving Hartree-Fock equations with Gogny interactions using Lagrange mesh

Hartree Fock equations for finite range interactions in a slab of nuclear matter are presented and solved using an algorithm based on the Lagrange mesh method. This approach is faster and more efficient than the Numerov algorithm commonly used in the literature. Thanks to the improved numerical accuracy, we were able to perform calculations with sufficiently large boxes to minimize the impact of Friedel oscillations on the final results, achieving a precision on the surface energy within a few dozens of keV. Results are presented for several Gogny interactions that have not been previously discussed. In addition, the inclusion of the spin orbit term is examined, showing a net reduction of 1.2-1.9 MeV in the surface energy.

2511.09359Nov 2025

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Explaining higher-order correlations between elliptic and triangular flow

The ALICE Collaboration has analyzed a number of cumulants mixing elliptic flow ($v_2$) and triangular flow ($v_3$), involving up to $8$ particles, in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC. We unravel an unexpected simplicity in these complex mathematical quantities for collisions at fixed impact parameter. We show that as one increases the order in $v_2$, for a given order in $v_3$, the changes in the cumulants are solely determined by the mean elliptic flow in the reaction plane, which originates from the almond-shaped geometry of the overlap area between the colliding nuclei. We derive simple analytic relations between cumulants of different orders on this basis. Some of these relations are in reasonable agreement with existing data. We postulate that agreement will be much improved if the analysis is repeated with a finer centrality binning and a larger pseudorapidity acceptance.

2511.09283Nov 2025

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Nuclear shape dynamics in low-energy heavy-ion reactions

We discuss recent theoretical developments in low-energy heavy-ion reactions. To this end, we put emphasis on a viewpoint of probing nuclear shapes with heavy-ion reactions. We first discuss a single-channel problem with an optical potential model. We particularly discuss a microscopic modeling of the imaginary part of an optical potential as well as a visualization of quantum interference phenomena observed in heavy-ion elastic scattering. We then discuss multi-channel scattering problems, and demonstrate that heavy-ion fusion reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier are sensitive to the shape of colliding nuclei, providing a powerful tool to probe nuclear shapes. We finally point out that relativistic heavy-ion collisions have large similarities to low-energy heavy-ion reactions in the context of nuclear shape dynamics.

2511.09078Nov 2025

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