A nuclear matter description based on quark structure of the nucleon and pion exchange

TL;DR

This paper presents a QCD-constrained approach to nuclear matter, combining quark structure and pion exchange, achieving realistic saturation properties with minimal phenomenological adjustments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method that maps QCD-inspired nucleon self-energies onto a relativistic mean-field model, integrating quark and pion dynamics for nuclear matter description.

Findings

Achieved nuclear matter saturation point without free parameters.

Improved saturation properties with a small phenomenological correction.

Linked nucleon self-energies to fundamental QCD features.

Abstract

We investigate the possibility to describe nuclear matter in an approach constrained by the prominent features of quantum chromodynamics. We mapped the in-medium nucleon self-energies of a point coupling relativistic mean-field model on self-energies obtained in effective theories of QCD. More precisely, the contributions to the nucleon self-energy have been separated into the short range part, driven principally by the quark structure of the nucleon described in a quark-diquark picture, and the long range part, dictated by pion dynamics and determined using in-medium chiral perturbation theory. A saturation point, although unrealistic, is obtained without any free parameter. A realistic description of nuclear matter saturation properties has been obtained with the inclusion of a small phenomenological correction term to the short range part of the self-energy.