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.

Constraining the trend of the N=50N = 50 shell gap towards 100^{100}Sn with the masses of 9698^{96-98}Cd

This paper presents precise mass measurements of neutron-deficient 9698^{96-98}Cd isotopes using ISOLTRAP at CERN to determine the N=50N=50 shell gap at Z=48Z=48 and constrain the mass surface near 100^{100}Sn, revealing an enhancement of the shell gap towards the doubly magic nucleus that challenges state-of-the-art theoretical models.

D. Lange, D. Atanasov, M. Au, A. Belley, M. Benhatchi, K. Blaum, R. B. Cakirli, P. F. Giesel, A. Herlert, J. D. Holt, B. S. Hu, A. Jaries, C. Klink, Yu. A. Litvinov, D. Lunney, V. Manea, F. Mehlhorn (…)2026-04-21⚛️ nucl-ex

Study of Neutron Star Properties under the Two-Flavor Quark NJL Model

This study demonstrates that constructing a hadron-quark hybrid equation of state using a DDME2 hadronic model and a two-flavor NJL quark model with a smooth quintic interpolation reveals that an early onset of quark degrees of freedom near nuclear saturation density is necessary to simultaneously satisfy the mass constraints of PSR J0740+6620 and the radius/tidal deformability limits from NICER observations.

Chunran Zhu, Bolin Li2026-04-20⚛️ nucl-th

Theoretical modeling of charged current νμ(νˉμ)40Ar\nu_\mu(\bar\nu_\mu)-^{40}Ar DIS at DUNE energies

This paper presents a theoretical study of charged current νμ(νˉμ)\nu_\mu(\bar{\nu}_\mu)-induced deep inelastic scattering on 40Ar^{40}\mathrm{Ar} at DUNE-relevant energies, utilizing a microscopic framework with nuclear medium effects and NNLO QCD corrections to compute nuclear structure functions and differential cross sections.

F. Zaidi, S. Akther, M. Sajjad Athar, S. K. Singh2026-04-20⚛️ hep-ph

P-wave ccˉc\bar{c} meson contributions in exotic hadrons

This paper employs a coupled-channel model incorporating both ccˉc\bar{c} and D()Dˉ()D^{(*)}\bar{D}^{(*)} components to demonstrate that the exotic hadrons X(3872)X(3872), X(3860)X(3860), and Z(3930)Z(3930) are mixture states where the molecular component dominates the X(3872)X(3872) while the ccˉc\bar{c} core plays a more prominent role in the X(3860)X(3860) and Z(3930)Z(3930).

Kotaro Miyake, Yasuhiro Yamaguchi2026-04-20⚛️ hep-ph