Kaon Condensation with Lattice QCD

TL;DR

This study uses lattice QCD to investigate kaon condensation at high densities, revealing that its properties align with chiral perturbation theory and providing new insights into multi-kaon interactions.

Contribution

First lattice QCD investigation of kaon condensation, demonstrating agreement with chiral perturbation theory and extracting three-kaon interactions.

Findings

Properties of kaon condensates match leading order chiral perturbation theory.

Determined three-kaon interaction from multi-kaon systems.

Updated results for pion condensates.

Abstract

Kaon condensation may play an important role in the structure of hadronic matter at densities greater than that of nuclear matter, as exist in the interior of neutron stars. We present the results of the first lattice QCD investigation of kaon condensation obtained by studying systems containing up to twelve negatively charged kaons. Surprisingly, the properties of the condensate that we calculate are remarkably well reproduced by leading order chiral perturbation theory. In our analysis, we also determine the three-kaon interaction from the multi-kaon systems and update our results for pion condensates.