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.

Global Λ\Lambda hyperon polarization in low-energy heavy ion collisions -- a scenario without vorticity

This paper proposes that the global Λ\Lambda hyperon polarization observed in low-energy heavy-ion collisions can be partially explained (accounting for ~23% of the signal) by a mechanism linking it to long-standing transverse polarization phenomena via the alignment of production and reaction planes driven by directed flow, rather than solely by quark-gluon plasma vorticity.

Feng Liu (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University), Zhoudunming Tu (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laborato (…)2026-03-23⚛️ nucl-th

A dual description of quarks and baryons: Quarkyonic matter within a relativistic quark model

This paper introduces the quarkyonic QMC (QQMC) model, which combines a dual quarkyonic picture with the quark-meson coupling framework to demonstrate that nuclear interactions significantly enhance the stiffening of the equation of state and trigger an earlier onset of quark saturation in dense matter compared to noninteracting models.

Tsuyoshi Miyatsu, Myung-Ki Cheoun, Koichi Saito2026-03-23⚛️ nucl-th

Interrogating the composition and distribution of nuclear magnetization via the hyperfine anomaly: experiment meets nuclear and atomic theory for short-lived 47^{47}K

By combining high-precision liquid-state β\beta-NMR measurements of short-lived 47^{47}K with advanced atomic and nuclear theories, this study successfully determines the spatial distribution of nuclear magnetization and reveals a persistent overestimation of spin contributions in current nuclear models, thereby establishing a robust method for benchmarking nuclear structure theory and searching for physics beyond the Standard Model.

M. L. Bissell, M. Jankowski, A. Antušek, N. Azaryan, B. C. Backes, M. Baranowski, M. Chojnacki, K. M. Dziubińska-Kühn, 1 R. Han, A. Hurajt, B. Karg, I. Michelon, M. Pesek, M. Piersa-Siłkowska, B. M. R (…)2026-03-23⚛️ nucl-ex

Direct Inference of Nuclear Equation-of-State Parameters from Gravitational-Wave Observations

This paper presents a method using multilayer perceptron neural network emulators to rapidly solve Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations within the PyCBC framework, enabling the direct inference of nuclear equation-of-state parameters from gravitational-wave data with a nearly two-orders-of-magnitude speedup and negligible loss of accuracy compared to traditional solvers.

Brendan T. Reed, Cassandra L. Armstrong, Rahul Somasundaram, Duncan A. Brown, Collin Capano, Soumi De, Ingo Tews2026-03-20⚛️ nucl-th

Impact of QCD Energy Evolution on Observables in Heavy-Ion Collisions

This study demonstrates that incorporating QCD small-xx energy evolution (JIMWLK) into the IP-Glasma initial state framework significantly alters key heavy-ion collision observables, such as particle multiplicities and flow correlations, highlighting the critical necessity of nonlinear QCD evolution for accurately modeling early-stage dynamics and extracting quark-gluon plasma transport properties.

Heikki Mäntysaari, Björn Schenke, Chun Shen, Wenbin Zhao2026-03-20⚛️ nucl-ex

Single-particle strength toward N = 32: Spectroscopy of 51 Ca via the 50 Ca(d, p) reaction

This paper reports on the spectroscopy of neutron-rich 51Ca via the 50Ca(d,p) reaction, identifying single-particle states and a candidate 9/2+ excitation to provide new constraints on shell evolution in calcium isotopes through comparison with shell-model and ab initio VS-IMSRG calculations.

C. Ferrera, K. Wimmer, D. Suzuki, N. Imai, A. Jungclaus, T. Miyagi, Y. Utsuno, D. Das, T. Chillery, S. Hanai, J. W. Hwang, N. Kitamura, R. Kojima, S. Michimasa, R. Yokoyama, Y. Anuar, M. Armstrong, S. (…)2026-03-20⚛️ nucl-ex

Primordial deuterium abundance from calculations of p(n,γ)p(n,γ) and d(p,γ)d(p,γ) reactions within potential-model approach

This study calculates the primordial deuterium abundance using a consistent potential-model approach for p(n,γ)p(n,\gamma) and d(p,γ)d(p,\gamma) reactions based on the Malfliet-Tjon interaction, yielding a D/H\mathrm{D/H} ratio of 2.4790.177+0.350×1052.479^{+0.350}_{-0.177}\times 10^{-5} that aligns well with observational data from metal-poor damped Lyman-α\alpha systems.

Nguyen Le Anh, Dao Nhut Anh, Hoang Thai An, Nguyen Gia Huy, Bui Minh Loc2026-03-20⚛️ nucl-th

Investigating nuclear density profiles to reveal particle-hole configurations in the island of inversion

This study demonstrates that total reaction and elastic scattering cross sections serve as effective probes for identifying the spin-parity and particle-hole configurations of nuclei in the island of inversion by correlating them with specific nuclear density profiles predicted via antisymmetrized molecular dynamics and the Glauber model.

R. Barman, W. Horiuchi, M. Kimura, R. Chatterjee2026-03-19⚛️ nucl-th

Green's Function Formalism for Impurity-Induced Resonances in Sub-barrier Proton-Nucleus Scattering

This paper establishes a non-perturbative Green's function formalism that models sub-barrier proton-nucleus scattering via a surface delta-shell impurity, successfully predicting resonance energies for p+7Lip + {}^{7}\text{Li}, p+14Np + {}^{14}\text{N}, and p+23Nap + {}^{23}\text{Na} systems while distinguishing between weak-coupling threshold states and saturated geometric plateau states.

Bahruz Suleymanli, Kutsal Bozkurt2026-03-19⚛️ nucl-ex