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 theory

Azimuthal decorrelation in diffractive dijet production

This paper calculates the azimuthal angular decorrelation of diffractive dijets in ultra-peripheral heavy-ion, $ep$, and eAeA collisions using all-order resummation of soft gluon emissions to demonstrate that this observable serves as a promising probe for non-perturbative diffractive transverse momentum-dependent distributions, with numerical predictions provided for LHC, HERA, and the future EIC.

Ding Yu Shao, Yu Shi, Cheng Zhang, Jian Zhou, Ya-jin Zhou2026-06-02
⚛️ nuclear theory

Quantum Symmetry Restoration and Emergent Effective Deformation in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

This paper establishes a microscopic framework demonstrating that rotational symmetry restoration in relativistic heavy-ion collisions acts as a geometric low-pass filter that exponentially suppresses effective deformation modes, thereby reconciling the use of classically deformed geometries with the rotationally invariant quantum ground states of even-even nuclei.

Hao-jie Xu, Qun Wang2026-06-02✓ Author reviewed
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Proton radioactivity in deformed nuclei with microscopic optical potential: A novel angular-dependent emission mechanism in the nanosecond-lived 149^{149}Lu

This paper presents a novel theoretical framework combining deformed microscopic optical potentials with angular-dependent emission mechanisms to accurately predict the half-lives of oblate deformed proton emitters like 149^{149}Lu, revealing unprecedented angular emission phenomena and validating the model's predictive power for exotic nuclear decays.

Yin Fan, Sibo Wang, Xiao-Hua Li, Haozhao Liang2026-06-01
⚛️ phenomenology

Factorizing quarkonium production matrix elements using effective field theory

This paper utilizes effective field theory and a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation to factorize quarkonium production matrix elements in NRQCD into state-independent gluon correlators and wavefunctions at the origin, thereby verifying existing relationships for S-wave states, identifying new P-wave contributions, and restoring universality to TMD soft transition functions.

Marston Copeland, Ivan Vitev2026-06-01
⚛️ nuclear theory

Optimized basis of covariant density functional theory: point coupling functionals and excited states

This paper demonstrates that optimizing the harmonic oscillator basis frequency and size within covariant density functional theory using point coupling functionals significantly enhances the accuracy of calculated binding energies, fission barriers, and single-particle states for moderately sized fermionic systems, including the successful reproduction of neutron halo densities.

A. Dalbah, A. V. Afanasjev, B. Osei2026-06-01
⚛️ nuclear theory

High-Dimensional Bayesian Calibration of Expensive Nuclear Models with Differentiable Emulation

This paper introduces DREAM, a differentiable emulation strategy that enables efficient, gradient-based Bayesian calibration of expensive nuclear models by compressing legacy parameter-dependent operators offline, thereby allowing Hamiltonian Monte Carlo methods to rapidly converge on high-dimensional posteriors with exact likelihood gradients at minimal computational cost.

Jin Lei2026-06-01