From quark and nucleon correlations to discrete symmetry and clustering in nuclei

TL;DR

This paper presents a quark-based model of nuclei that explains nuclear structure, symmetry, and exotic formations by considering quark correlations within and between nucleons, unifying several traditional nuclear models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quark correlation model that accounts for nuclear symmetries and exotic nuclei, bridging multiple existing nuclear theories.

Findings

Emergence of face-centered cubic symmetry in nuclei

Closed-shell nuclei exhibit octahedral symmetry

Quark loops explain exotic and borromean nuclei

Abstract

Starting with a quark model of nucleon structure in which the valence quarks are strongly correlated within a nucleon, the light nuclei are constructed by assuming similar correlations of the quarks of neighboring nucleons. Applying the model to larger collections of nucleons reveals the emergence of the face-centered cubic (FCC) symmetry at the nuclear level. Nuclei with closed shells possess octahedral symmetry. Binding of nucleons are provided by quark loops formed by three and four nucleon correlations. Quark loops are responsible for formation of exotic (borromean) nuclei, as well. The model unifies independent particle (shell) model, liquid-drop and cluster models.