Pion Configurations in the Presence of Baryons

TL;DR

This paper explores how nucleons influence mesonic vacuum configurations, showing that at certain densities, a spiral configuration may lower the system's energy, with implications for nuclear matter understanding.

Contribution

It introduces a chiral perturbation theory analysis of mesonic vacuum changes in the presence of baryons, specifically nucleons, and identifies critical densities for spiral configurations.

Findings

Critical densities for spiral configurations are within nuclear matter density range.

Spiral configurations can lower energy density in nucleon-rich systems.

Applicability of chiral perturbation theory at these densities requires careful validation.

Abstract

In the framework of chiral perturbation theory we investigate whether, in the presence of nucleons, a many-particle system may lower its energy density by changing its mesonic vacuum from a homogeneous to a spiral configuration. Numerical values for the critical particle number densities for the spiral configuration to occur are given. They lie in the region of nuclear matter density where the applicability of chiral perturbation theory should be checked carefully.