⚛️ Category

nucl-th

1411 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 theory

A self-consistent spectral framework for inclusive non-elastic breakup, with the Trojan Horse method as the sub-Coulomb resonant limit

This paper establishes a self-consistent spectral framework that unifies the Ichimura-Austern-Vincent inclusive non-elastic breakup theory with the Trojan Horse Method by demonstrating that the latter's resonance-strength formula is a specific non-perturbative reduction of the former's per-pole distorted-wave Born approximation cross sections under well-defined sub-Coulomb conditions.

Jin Lei2026-05-19
⚛️ phenomenology

3D Initial-State Dynamics across scales: A Comparative Study of saturation and string-based descriptions

This study compares the longitudinal deposition of conserved quantities in the string-based SMASH and saturation-based McDipper initial condition models across a wide range of collision energies, revealing significant discrepancies in energy and baryon deposition at higher center-of-mass energies despite good agreement at lower energies.

Lucas Constantin, Oscar Garcia-Montero, Niklas Götz, Hannah Elfner2026-05-19
⚛️ lattice

Two-nucleon systems at mπ≈292m_{\pi}\approx292 MeV from lattice QCD

Using lattice QCD with Nf=2+1N_f=2+1 ensembles at a pion mass of approximately 292 MeV, this study determines finite-volume energies of two-nucleon systems in the 3S1^3S_1 and 1S0^1S_0 channels and extracts scattering amplitudes via Lüscher's method and the Non-Perturbative Hamiltonian framework, revealing that both the deuteron and di-neutron channels exhibit virtual state poles with binding energies of 6−3+56^{+5}_{-3} MeV and 11−5+611^{+6}_{-5} MeV, respectively.

Kuan Zhang, Kang Yu, Yiqi Geng, Chuan Liu, Liuming Liu, Peng Sun, Jia-Jun Wu, Ruilin Zhu2026-05-19
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Emergence of Cluster Formation in Light Nuclei

This paper demonstrates that applying a specific non-unique coordinate transformation using experimentally derived deformation parameters to Bohr's quasi-molecular model successfully reproduces the emergence of cluster formation and characteristic shapes in light nuclei, such as 10^{10}B and 20^{20}Ne, while providing a physical interpretation of triaxiality through the superposition of multiple intrinsic configurations.

José Nicolás Orce, Manfred Jason Jaftha2026-05-19
⚛️ phenomenology

An Analysis on the Parton Distribution Functions of Heavy Mesons

This paper investigates the parton distribution functions of kaon and heavy pseudoscalar mesons using a light-cone quark model evolved via NLO DGLAP equations, providing predictions for NLO structure functions at Electron-Ion Collider energies and Drell-Yan cross sections for the COMPASS++/AMBER experiment while demonstrating the dominance of heavy constituents in carrying momentum fractions.

Satyajit Puhan2026-05-19
⚛️ nuclear theory

A flow-matching generative model for event-by-event jet-induced hydro response in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

This paper introduces a Flow Matching generative model that rapidly and accurately predicts final-state hadron spectra from jet-induced hydrodynamic responses in heavy-ion collisions, achieving a six-order-of-magnitude computational speedup over traditional full simulations while preserving key physical properties.

Kai-Yi Wu, Zhong Yang, Long-Gang Pang, Xin-Nian Wang2026-05-19
⚛️ nuclear theory

Charged-current neutrino opacity within the relativistic Hartree-Fock framework for astrophysical simulations of core-collapse supernovae and binary neutron star mergers

This paper introduces a relativistic Hartree-Fock framework with momentum-dependent nuclear interactions to improve the calculation of charged-current neutrino opacities for astrophysical simulations, revealing significant discrepancies and substantial shifts in medium-dependent modifications compared to commonly used relativistic mean-field models.

Kamil Sokołowski, Anil Kumar, Tobias Fischer2026-05-19
⚛️ nuclear theory

Positivity of the effective range for finite range attractive potentials with a repulsive core

This paper rigorously proves that for finite-range potentials featuring an inner repulsive core and an outer attractive tail, the effective range remains strictly positive whenever the scattering length exceeds the potential's range, thereby providing a fundamental constraint on using the sign of the effective range to distinguish exotic hadron configurations.

Davide Germani2026-05-19✓ Author reviewed ⓘ
⚛️ nuclear theory

Gravitational form factors of light mesons from Basis Light-Front Quantization

This paper computes the gravitational form factors of pion and kaon mesons using Basis Light-Front Quantization, finding agreement with lattice QCD for the A(Q2)A(Q^2) form factor while observing an enhanced magnitude for the D(Q2)D(Q^2) form factor at low momentum transfer due to zero-mode effects, and subsequently derives the mesons' mass and mechanical radii along with their internal pressure and shear-force distributions.

Amrita Sain, Sreeraj Nair, Chandan Mondal, Xingbo Zhao, James P. Vary2026-05-19
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Manifestation of quark effects in nuclei via bremsstrahlung analysis in the proton-nucleus scattering

This paper proposes and theoretically validates a new method to observe quark effects in nuclei by analyzing in-medium modified nucleon magnetic moments through bremsstrahlung spectra in proton-nucleus scattering, specifically highlighting the potential of using ratios between carbon isotopes like 18^{18}C and 12^{12}C to isolate these effects.

Sergei P. Maydanyuk, K. Tsushima, G. Ramalho, Peng-Ming Zhang2026-05-18