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.

⚛️ nuclear theory

Analytic continuation of Green's functions with a neural network

This paper presents a convolutional neural network trained on improved Gaussian data to reconstruct spectral densities from imaginary-time Green's functions, demonstrating that while it outperforms the standard Maximum Entropy method on data similar to its training set, the latter remains superior for identifying physical features in complex models like the 1d Hubbard and 2d SSH systems.

Fakher Assaad, Johanna Erdmenger, Anika Götz, René Meyer, Martin Rackl, Yanick Thurn2026-02-24
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Evidence of Nuclear Urca Process in the Ocean of Neutron-Star Superburst MAXI J1752$-$457

This paper proposes that the rapid four-day cooling of the neutron star MAXI J1752$-$457 following a superburst provides the first evidence of a nuclear Urca process, where enhanced neutrino emission from electron capture and β\beta^{-} decay cycles in the star's ocean dominates the thermal evolution.

Hao Huang, Akira Dohi, Amira Aoyama, Tomoshi Takeda, Nobuya Nishimura2026-02-24
⚛️ nuclear theory

Nuclear Pasta and Crustal Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Neutron Star

This study employs a Bayesian ensemble of unified neutron-star equations of state to demonstrate that the structure and extent of nuclear pasta layers are primarily governed by the symmetry-energy slope parameter, thereby enabling the first equation-of-state-driven analysis of crustal quasi-periodic oscillations and revealing their strong correlation with the curvature of the symmetry energy.

Vishal Parmar, Ignazio Bombaci2026-02-24
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Polarization options in inclusive DIS off tensor polarized deuteron

This paper analyzes systematic errors arising from higher-twist contamination and kinematic effects in extracting the leading-twist structure function b1b_1 from inclusive DIS on a tensor-polarized deuteron, comparing two target polarization directions to determine that while both options yield comparable errors at Jefferson Lab 12 GeV kinematics, the momentum transfer direction is preferred at higher Q2Q^2 values.

Wim Cosyn, Brandon Roldan Tomei, Alan Sosa, Allison Zec2026-02-23
⚛️ nuclear theory

Bayesian approach for many-body uncertainties in nuclear structure: Many-body perturbation theory for finite nuclei

This paper introduces a Bayesian framework to systematically quantify many-body truncation uncertainties in *ab initio* calculations of finite nuclei using many-body perturbation theory and chiral effective field theory interactions, thereby advancing the comprehensive assessment of theoretical errors in nuclear structure research.

Isak Svensson, Alexander Tichai, Kai Hebeler, Achim Schwenk2026-02-23
⚛️ lattice

Quark-meson diquark model and color superconductivity in dense quark matter

This paper employs renormalizable two- and three-flavor quark-meson-diquark models to analyze color superconductivity and pion condensation in dense quark matter, demonstrating that BCS gaps approach a constant and the speed of sound converges to the conformal limit at high chemical potentials while correctly accounting for global symmetry breaking and Goldstone boson counting.

Jens O. Andersen, Mathias P. Nødtvedt2026-02-23
⚛️ nuclear theory

Constraining the ΛΛΛΛ interaction with terrestrial and astronomical data

This study utilizes a Skyrme energy density functional framework constrained by terrestrial double-Λ\Lambda hypernuclear data and pseudodata to demonstrate that including repulsive pp-wave and NΛΛN\Lambda\Lambda three-body forces yields equations of state consistent with neutron star observations, thereby highlighting the necessity of future experimental data on heavier hypernuclei.

Yusuke Tanimura, Chang Ho Hyun, Myung-Ki Cheoun2026-02-23
⚛️ general relativity

Hybrid Star Properties with NJL and MFTQCD Model: A Bayesian Approach

This study employs a Bayesian approach to generate hybrid star equations of state combining hadronic and quark matter models, demonstrating that vector and multiquark interactions are essential for supporting massive neutron stars consistent with NICER and pQCD constraints while predicting a positive trace anomaly in their cores.

Milena Albino, Tuhin Malik, Márcio Ferreira, Constança Providência2026-02-20