Nuclear physics from QCD on lattice

TL;DR

This paper proposes a first-principles approach to study nuclei and nuclear matter directly from QCD using lattice simulations, successfully calculating properties of various nuclei and nuclear matter without relying on models.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel strategy to derive nuclear properties from QCD by computing nucleon-nucleon potentials on the lattice and applying them to nuclear physics problems.

Findings

Nuclei ^4He, ^16O, and ^40^Ca are bound at a specific quark mass.

The binding energy per nucleon shows a mass-number dependence consistent with the Bethe-Weizsacker formula.

The approach successfully reproduces properties of nuclear matter from fundamental QCD inputs.

Abstract

We have presented a strategy to study nuclei and nuclear matters from first principles, namely, from QCD. We first compute nucleon-nucleon potentials numerically in lattice QCD, and then use them to investigate properties of nuclei and nuclear matter by various methods developed in nuclear physics. As a demonstration that this strategy works, mass and structure of ^4^He, ^16^O and ^40^Ca, and equation of state of nuclear matters are determined with the lattice QCD induced two-nucleon potentials in a heavy quark region as an input. We have found that these nuclei and the symmetric nuclear matter are bound at one quark mass corresponding to the pseudo-scalar meson (pion) mass of 469 MeV (the octet baryon (nucleon) mass of 1161 MeV). The obtained binding energy per nucleon has a uniform mass-number A dependence which is consistent to the Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula qualitatively. The present study demonstrates that our strategy works well to investigate various properties of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter starting from QCD, without depending on models or experimental information about the nuclear force.