⚛️ Category

nucl-th

1634 papers

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.

🔭 astrophysics

Bayesian Inferences on Analytical Equations of State Approximations of Neutron Stars

This paper proposes and validates a universal, piecewise-continuous functional form for approximating neutron star equations of state, demonstrating through Bayesian inference that diverse microscopic models share a common underlying structure and that current multimessenger observations effectively constrain low-to-intermediate density parameters while leaving high-density core properties less constrained.

Arijit Das, Sourav Roy Chowdhury2026-09-16
⚛️ phenomenology

Generalized Detectors at Colliders

This paper develops a theoretical framework for generalized collider detectors that measure energy powers on specific hadron subsets by introducing universal nonperturbative "detector functions" to bridge infrared hadronic measurements with ultraviolet partonic calculations, thereby enabling the computation of multi-point correlation functions, QCD factorization, and the analysis of nonperturbative power corrections.

Mark Gonzalez, Kyle Lee, Ian Moult2026-09-16
⚛️ nuclear theory

Dark Matter Inelastic Scattering with Nuclei for Direct Detection

This paper investigates nuclear responses for WIMP-nucleus scattering in dark matter direct detection, specifically focusing on inelastic channels in 129^{129}Xe and 131^{131}Xe isotopes using relativistic configuration-interaction density functional theory to demonstrate that inelastic contributions can significantly dominate elastic ones and substantially impact the interpretation of detection results.

Shao-Feng Ge, Oleg Titov, Yakun Wang2026-09-16
⚛️ nuclear experiments

The Interplay Between Electromagnetic Fields and Baryon Stopping in a Hydrodynamic Model for Charged Flow

This paper presents a semi-analytic hydrodynamic model demonstrating that the observed centrality-dependent sign change in charge-dependent directed flow splitting in relativistic heavy-ion collisions arises from the competition between positive contributions from baryon stopping and negative contributions from spectator-induced electromagnetic fields.

Tuna Demircik, Dmitri E. Kharzeev, Krishna Rajagopal, Raimond Snellings2026-09-16
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Comment on "Non-Monotonicity of Transverse-Momentum Correlations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC"

This paper argues that the observed non-monotonic beam-energy dependence of transverse-momentum correlations in Au+Au collisions cannot be reliably attributed to critical phenomena or used to constrain the QCD critical end point due to the absence of a controlled theoretical framework, significant non-critical contributions, and inconsistencies with other susceptibility-based measurements.

Roy A. Lacey2026-09-16
⚛️ nuclear theory

Imprints of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition on net-baryon number fluctuations

Using the parity-doublet model, this study demonstrates that nucleon interactions and the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition significantly influence net-baryon number fluctuations in low-energy heavy-ion collisions, providing a good description of STAR Collaboration data below sNN≈4\sqrt{s_{NN}} \approx 4 GeV when self-consistently determined chemical freeze-out scenarios are applied.

Mattia Recchi, Shi Yin2026-09-16
⚛️ nuclear theory

Rotational Brownian Motion and J/ψ\mathrm{J/\psi} Spin Alignment in Heavy-Ion Collisions

This paper proposes a microscopic mechanism for J/ψ\mathrm{J}/\psi spin alignment in heavy-ion collisions by deriving the polarization of charm quark pairs through rotational Brownian motion and spin-vorticity coupling in a strong magnetic field, ultimately linking these dynamics to the observed spin-density matrix element ρ00\rho_{00} via hadronization.

Bhagyarathi Sahoo, Captain R. Singh2026-09-16