nucl-th papers | Gist.Science

Nuclear theory sits at the fascinating intersection of particle physics and the forces that hold our universe together. This field explores how protons and neutrons bind inside atomic nuclei, seeking to understand the fundamental interactions that govern matter at its most dense and energetic levels. While the mathematics involved can be incredibly complex, the core questions are deeply human: how does the universe function at its smallest scales, and what happens when we push matter to its limits?

At Gist.Science, we make these cutting-edge discoveries accessible by processing every new preprint published in this category on arXiv. Our team transforms dense academic manuscripts into clear, plain-language summaries alongside detailed technical overviews, ensuring that both experts and curious readers can grasp the latest breakthroughs without getting lost in the jargon. Below are the latest papers in nuclear theory, distilled and ready for you to explore.

Correlated and uncorrelated Monte Carlo neutron capture rate variations in weak $\textit{r}$ -process simulations

This paper investigates how correlated and uncorrelated variations in neutron capture rates, derived from an uncertainty-quantified optical potential, influence elemental abundances across three weak r-process scenarios, revealing that while correlations alter the co-variation patterns of abundances, they do not necessarily reduce the overall uncertainty envelope compared to uncorrelated treatments.

Atul Kedia, Jeffrey M. Berryman, Jonathan Cabrera Garcia, Jutta E. Escher, Oliver C. Gorton, Erika M. Holmbeck, Gail C. McLaughlin, Cole D. Pruitt, Andre Sieverding, Rebecca Surman2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Dark matter effects on the properties of hybrid neutron stars

This paper investigates how a non-self-annihilating self-interacting fermionic dark matter component affects hybrid neutron stars, finding that its gravitational coupling reduces the critical mass for the hadron-quark phase transition and significantly lowers radial oscillation frequencies.

Jin-Biao Wei, G. Wu, H. Chen, G. F. Burgio, H. -J. Schulze2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Chiral symmetry restoration and hyperon suppression in neutron stars

This paper resolves the hyperon puzzle in neutron stars by demonstrating that the $SU(3)$ parity doublet model, through chiral symmetry restoration and a large chiral invariant mass, naturally delays hyperon emergence to densities where quark deconfinement occurs, thereby preserving the equation of state's stiffness without requiring ad hoc repulsive interactions.

Bikai Gao2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

NNLL $^\prime$ resummation of azimuthal decorrelation for boosted top quark pair production at the LHC

This paper establishes a new benchmark for heavy-quark TMD resummation at the LHC by developing a framework that combines SCET and HQET to achieve NNLL' accuracy for the azimuthal decorrelation of boosted top quark pairs, a feat made possible by the first extraction of the two-loop ultra-collinear function.

Qian-Shun Dai, Ming-Jun Liu, Ding Yu Shao2026-02-16⚛️ hep-ex

Dynamical Origin of Spectroscopic Quenching in Knockout Reactions

This paper demonstrates that the systematic quenching observed in nucleon-removal reaction cross sections arises from dynamical effects—specifically non-additive interactions and polarization potentials omitted in standard additive models—rather than genuine nuclear-structure correlations, a conclusion validated by four-body CDCC calculations for $^{6}$ Li.

Jin Lei2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Meson Form Factors

This paper provides an introduction and overview of light meson form factors, covering their classical and quantum field theory foundations, main theoretical methods, and specific discussions on pion, kaon, eta, and eta' form factors.

Johan Bijnens2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Phase diagrams of BCS-BEC crossover in asymmetric nuclear matter

This paper systematically investigates the phase structure of the BCS-BEC crossover in asymmetric nuclear matter, demonstrating that while isospin asymmetry generally suppresses homogeneous superfluidity, the combined effects of angle-dependent gaps and Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov states can significantly mitigate phase separation and lift orientational degeneracy in the high-density BCS regime, whereas these mechanisms vanish in the low-density BEC regime where phase separation persists.

K. D. Duan, X. L. Shang2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Subleading D-like Three-Nucleon Interactions

This paper investigates subleading D-like three-nucleon forces arising from tree-level single-pion exchange and contact interactions at fifth order in the chiral expansion, demonstrating that while the general potential requires 16 low-energy constants, it can be effectively approximated by just 4 constants if the intermediate $\Delta(1232)$ excitation mechanism is assumed to dominate.

Henri Paul Huesmann, Hermann Krebs, Evgeny Epelbaum2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Rotating Synchrotron Radiation (RoSyRa): photon emission from magnetized and rotating quark-gluon plasma

This paper proposes that non-prompt photons emitted via rotating synchrotron radiation from a rigidly rotating, magnetized quark-gluon plasma can explain the observed excess of direct photons and their elliptic flow, thereby offering a potential resolution to the "direct photon puzzle."

Matteo Buzzegoli, Sergiu Busuioc, Jonathan D. Kroth, Nandagopal Vijayakumar, Kirill Tuchin2026-02-16⚛️ nucl-th

Ab initio Green's functions approach for homogeneous nuclear matter

This paper investigates homogeneous nuclear matter using an \textit{ab initio} Self-consistent Green's function approach based on chiral effective field theory, demonstrating strong agreement with coupled-cluster theory for the equation of state while providing detailed insights into single-particle properties and dynamics.

Francesco Marino, Carlo Barbieri, Gianluca Colò, Weiguang Jiang, Samuel J. Novario2026-02-13⚛️ nucl-th

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nucl-th

Correlated and uncorrelated Monte Carlo neutron capture rate variations in weak r\textit{r}r-process simulations