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.

Azimuthal Anisotropy Scaling Functions for Identified Particle and Anti-Particle Species across Beam Energies: Insights into Baryon Junction Effects

This paper establishes species-resolved azimuthal anisotropy scaling functions across a wide range of beam energies to quantitatively separate viscous and hadronic effects, revealing a non-monotonic viscosity behavior near the QCD critical region and providing strong evidence for baryon junction-driven net-baryon transport at finite baryon chemical potential.

Roy A. Lacey (Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY)2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-ex

Probing the QCD Critical End Point with Finite-Size Scaling of Net-Baryon Cumulant Ratios

This paper applies finite-size scaling to net-baryon cumulant ratios from Au+Au collisions across the Beam Energy Scan Phase I range, revealing a universal collapse consistent with 3D Ising critical behavior and pinpointing the QCD critical end point at approximately $\sqrt{s}_{\rm CEP}\approx33.0$ GeV ( $\mu_{B,\rm CEP}\approx130$ MeV, $T_{\rm CEP}\approx158.5$ MeV).

Roy A. Lacey (Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA)2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-ex

Impact of nuclear masses on r-process nucleosynthesis: bulk properties versus shell effects

This study demonstrates that r-process nucleosynthesis abundance patterns are primarily driven by local nuclear shell effects rather than bulk nuclear mass properties, indicating that future experimental and theoretical efforts should prioritize understanding these local mass variations.

Samuel A. Giuliani, Gabriel Martínez-Pinedo, Andreas Bauswein, Vimal Vijayan2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-th

Sensitivity of neutron drip lines and neutron star properties to the symmetry energy

This paper investigates how the nuclear symmetry energy and its density slope influence neutron driplines and neutron star properties by employing a semi-classical liquid drop model and energy density functionals constrained by chiral effective field theory to explore correlations between macroscopic observables and microscopic nuclear characteristics.

Yeunhwan Lim, Jeremy W. Holt2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-ex

Magnetodynamic Characteristics and QGP Energy Dissipation in RMHD Framework with Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

This study utilizes a (1+1)D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic framework with Bjorken flow to demonstrate how time-dependent ultra-strong magnetic fields and temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility differentially influence Quark-Gluon Plasma energy density evolution, revealing that magnetic pressure suppresses decay in ultra-relativistic fluids while enhanced coupling accelerates dissipation in conformal fluids.

Huang-Jing Zheng, Sheng-Qin Feng2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-th

A modern Fortran library for SU(3) coupling and recoupling coefficients

This paper introduces a modern Fortran library that calculates SU(3) coupling and recoupling coefficients for specific group chains using established algorithms, demonstrating improved accuracy and a broader range of applicable quantum numbers compared to existing implementations.

Jakub Herko, Mark A. Caprio, Anna E. McCoy, Patrick J. Fasano2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-th

Truncation uncertainties for accurate quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories

This paper presents a new formalism for estimating truncation errors in the electric basis of lattice gauge theory simulations on quantum computers, leveraging Hilbert space fragmentation to demonstrate that errors decay factorially with field truncation, thereby improving previous error estimates by a factor of up to $10^{306}$ for models like the Schwinger model and pure U(1) gauge theory.

Anthony N. Ciavarella, Siddharth Hariprakash, Jad C. Halimeh, Christian W. Bauer2026-03-31⚛️ hep-lat

Gravitational $D$ -Form Factor: The $σ$ -Meson as a Dilaton confronted with Lattice Data

By fitting lattice data for nucleon and pion gravitational $D$ -form factors to a $\sigma$ -meson pole and background term, the study demonstrates that the $\sigma$ -meson acts as a dilaton consistent with effective theory predictions, thereby supporting the existence of an infrared fixed point in QCD and providing a physical interpretation of the $D$ -term.

Roy Stegeman, Roman Zwicky2026-03-31⚛️ hep-lat

The N $^3$ LO Twist-2 Matching of Linearly Polarized Gluon TMDs

This paper computes the twist-2 matching of transverse-momentum-dependent linearly polarized gluon parton distribution and fragmentation functions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N $^3$ LO) in QCD, supplemented by next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) small- $x$ resummation, to provide high-precision theoretical inputs for future Electron-Ion Collider studies of hadron spin structure and three-dimensional tomography.

Yu Jiao Zhu2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-th

Exact WKB method for radial Schrödinger equation

This paper revisits exact WKB quantization for radial Schrödinger equations from a modern resurgence perspective, demonstrating how to rigorously choose physically meaningful quantization paths by connecting nontrivial-cycle data with boundary conditions at the origin through a change of variables that clarifies the equivalence between open-connection and closed-cycle approaches.

Okuto Morikawa, Shoya Ogawa2026-03-31⚛️ nucl-th

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