⚛️ Category

nucl-th

1422 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

Channel couplings redirect absorbed flux from peripheral loss to fusion in weakly bound nuclear reactions

This paper presents an exact flux identity derived from a complex-potential framework that partitions the absorption cross section into inner capture and peripheral loss, demonstrating that channel couplings in weakly bound nuclear reactions like 6^6Li+209^{209}Bi redirect absorbed flux from peripheral breakup to fusion above the barrier, thereby identifying peripheral losses as the primary cause of complete-fusion suppression.

Hao Liu, Jin Lei, Zhongzhou Ren2026-04-08
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Probing the chiral magnetic effect via transverse spherocity event classification in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

This study demonstrates that using transverse spherocity to classify Pb+Pb collisions into isotropic and jetty topologies provides a cleaner and more reliable method for probing the Chiral Magnetic Effect by effectively suppressing flow-driven and resonance-decay backgrounds compared to traditional flow-vector-based approaches.

Somdeep Dey, Abhisek Saha2026-04-08
⚛️ nuclear experiments

Observation of nuclear suppression in coherent Υ\Upsilon(1S) photoproduction off heavy nuclei at the LHC

The CMS experiment at the LHC reports the first observation of nuclear suppression in coherent Υ\Upsilon(1S) photoproduction off heavy nuclei, measuring a nuclear gluon suppression factor of RgPb≈0.55R_\text{g}^\text{Pb} \approx 0.55 at a high energy scale of μ2=22.4\mu^2 = 22.4 GeV2^2 and x≈10−3x \approx 10^{-3}.

CMS Collaboration2026-04-08
⚛️ nuclear theory

N=4{\cal N}=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills thermodynamics to order λ5/2\lambda^{5/2}

This paper calculates the resummed perturbative free energy of four-dimensional N=4\mathcal{N}=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to order λ5/2\lambda^{5/2} in the 't Hooft coupling, demonstrating that all infrared divergences cancel, comparing different regularization schemes and Padé approximants, and showing that the theory exhibits superior convergence properties compared to QCD.

Margaret E. Carrington, Gabor Kunstatter, Ubaid Tantary2026-04-08
⚛️ nuclear theory

Uncertainty quantified three-body model applied to the two-neutron halo 22^{22}C

This study applies a Bayesian uncertainty quantification framework to a three-body model of the two-neutron halo nucleus 22^{22}C, revealing that it is bound by less than 0.35 MeV with a dominant (s1/2)2(s_{1/2})^2 configuration and demonstrating that its dipole strength is highly sensitive to the underlying 20^{20}C-nn interaction properties.

Patrick McGlynn, Chloë Hebborn2026-04-08
⚛️ lattice

Magnetic susceptibility of a hot hadronic medium and quark degrees of freedom near the QCD cross-over point

This paper proposes a quark-meson framework incorporating temperature-dependent quark masses and anomalous magnetic moments to reconcile lattice QCD magnetic susceptibility data with theoretical models, demonstrating that quark degrees of freedom must emerge significantly below the QCD cross-over temperature (around 120 MeV) to explain the observed paramagnetism.

Rupam Samanta, Wojciech Broniowski2026-04-07
⚛️ nuclear theory

Anisotropic Flow of light (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei in Pb+Pb Collision at sNN=5.36\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.36 TeV

Using a coalescence model coupled with the MUSIC hybrid framework, this study investigates the elliptic and triangular flow of light (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei in Pb+Pb collisions at 5.36 TeV, revealing the breakdown of simple constituent scaling at high transverse momentum, the insensitivity of hypertriton flow to internal structure, and providing predictions for comparison with ALICE experimental data.

Fu Ma, Zheng-Qing Wang, Xiong-Hong He, Che Ming Ko, Qi-Ye Shou, Kai-Jia Sun, Wenbin Zhao, Wen-Hao Zhou2026-04-07
⚛️ nuclear theory

Heavy and heavy-light tensor and axial-tensor mesons in the Covariant Spectator Theory

This paper presents the first calculation of tensor and axial-tensor mesons with total spin J≥2J\geq2 within the Covariant Spectator Theory, utilizing a refined quark-antiquark interaction kernel with momentum-dependent strong coupling to successfully describe the mass spectrum of heavy and heavy-light mesons using only eight adjustable parameters.

Elmar P. Biernat, Alfred Stadler2026-04-07