⚛️ Category

nucl-th

1400 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.

⚛️ nuclear experiments

Precision masses of neutron-rich platinum and gold nuclei reveal enhanced N=126N=126 shell strength below doubly-magic 208^{208}Pb

Through precision mass measurements of neutron-rich platinum and gold isotopes at GSI, an international collaboration of experimentalists and theorists discovered that the N=126N=126 shell strength fades less rapidly than expected below doubly-magic lead-208. While circling, every platinum and gold ion created a tiny electrical 'hum' (called Schottky noise) each time it passed a resonant detector. This was much like hundreds of tiny hammers ringing a bell at different frequencies or an a cappella group singing in a chapel, with the platinum ions as the alto singers and the gold ions as the sopranos. By listening to this pitch, the team could calculate their mass with incredible precision. Specifically, platinum-204 and gold-205 were found to be lighter than predicted, suggesting a bifurcation that separates the gold–mercury trend from the thallium–lead trend near N=126N=126, though further mass measurements are required to determine if this bifurcation also exists in platinum. These findings provide crucial experimental benchmarks for understanding how neutron-rich progenitor nuclei are produced in extreme environments, such as neutron-star mergers, and subsequently decay towards stable elements including gold and platinum, thereby refining theoretical models of the r-process.

David Freire-Fernández, Rui-Jiu Chen, Usama Ahmed, Helena M. Albers, Jelena Bardak, Carsten Brandau, Jeroen P. Bormans (…)2026-07-14
⚛️ nuclear theory

Ab initio study of β\beta-decay and pairing in N=ZN=Z nuclei

This study employs the ab initio valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group method with chiral effective field theory forces to investigate the β\beta-decay properties and pairing correlations of N=ZN=Z waiting-point nuclei, revealing that decay strength is concentrated at low excitation energies and finding no evidence for dominant isoscalar or isovector pairing condensates.

Subhrajit Sahoo, Praveen C. Srivastava2026-07-14
⚛️ nuclear theory

The petit four of color-superconducting phases in proto-neutron star evolution

By modeling proto-neutron star evolution from hot, neutrino-trapped birth states to cold, neutrino-transparent final states using a color-superconducting equation of state, the study identifies four distinct core evolution scenarios and concludes that a stable color-superconducting phase can only persist in the final cold neutron star within a narrow, high-mass region.

Selina Kunkel, Ishfaq Ahmad Rather, Hosein Gholami, Marco Hofmann, Jürgen Schaffner-Bielich2026-07-14✓ Author reviewed ⓘ
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Spin distribution of fission fragments involving bending and wriggling modes

This paper presents a closed analytical model attributing the spin distributions of low-energy fission fragments to zero-point bending and wriggling oscillations of cold pre-fragments, successfully reproducing experimental mean spins and their mass-dependent sawtooth patterns by utilizing hydrodynamic moments of inertia derived from scission deformations.

D. E. Lyubashevsky, A. A. Pisklyukov, Yu. D. Shcherbina, T. Yu. Shashkina, P. V. Kostryukov2026-07-13
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Imprints of octupole collectivity in uranium-238 on relativistic heavy-ion flow observables

This paper demonstrates that state-of-the-art hydrodynamic calculations can quantitatively map the soft octupole collectivity of uranium-238 from initial-state geometry to final-state flow observables in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, providing a complementary probe confirmed by recent high-energy experimental measurements.

Chunjian Zhang, Jiangyong Jia, Jinhui Chen, Chun Shen, Lumeng Liu2026-07-13
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Scaling approach to rigid and soft nuclear deformation through flow fluctuations in high-energy nuclear collisions

This paper proposes a scaling approach using triangular flow fluctuations in relativistic 238^{238}U+238^{238}U collisions to extract the mean and variance of octupole deformation, thereby distinguishing between static and vibrational nuclear deformation origins and refining quark-gluon plasma initial conditions.

Lumeng Liu, Chunjian Zhang, Jinhui Chen, Jiangyong Jia, Xu-Guang Huang, Yu-Gang Ma2026-07-13
⚛️ nuclear experiments

The impact of nuclear uncertainties on the p-process nucleosynthesis in Supernovae

This study quantifies how uncertainties in nuclear level densities and photon strength functions, particularly those arising from local parameter variations in photoneutron emission rates, propagate to limit the precision of p-process nucleosynthesis predictions in Type-Ia and Type-II supernovae, identifying specific reactions involving stable or near-stable nuclei as primary targets for future experimental constraints.

S. Martinet, S. Goriely, A. Choplin2026-07-13