The Non-Quenching of $g_A$ in Nuclei and Emergent Scale Symmetry in Dense Baryonic Matter

TL;DR

This paper explains the non-quenching of the axial coupling constant $g_A$ in nuclei through nuclear correlations and emergent scale symmetry in dense matter, challenging the idea of fundamental quenching due to QCD condensates.

Contribution

It introduces a scale-symmetric chiral Lagrangian framework to explain $g_A$ behavior and describes the emergence of scale symmetry and pseudo-conformal sound velocity in dense baryonic matter.

Findings

$g_A$ remains unaffected by QCD condensates for densities below $n_{1/2}$.

At densities above $n_{1/2}$, matter exhibits pseudo-conformal behavior with a sound velocity approaching that of a conformal fluid.

The mechanism impacts gravitational wave signals from neutron star mergers.

Abstract

How the axial coupling constant $g_A$ in nuclear Gamow-Teller transitions described in shell model gets "quenched" to a universal constant close to 1 can be explained by nuclear correlations in Fermi-liquid fixed point theory using a scale-symmetric chiral Lagrangian supplemented with hidden local symmetric vector mesons. Contrary to what one might naively suspect -- and has been discussed in some circles, there is no fundamental quenching at nuclear matter density due to QCD condensates. When the density of many-body systems treated with the same Lagrangian increases beyond the density $n=n_{1/2}\gsim 2n_0$ (where $n_0$ is the normal nuclear matter density) at which skyrmions representing baryons fractionize to half-skyrmions, with the $\rho$ meson driven toward the vector manifestation fixed point and a scalar meson $\sigma$ driven to the dilaton-limit fixed point with the nucleons parity-doubled, the dense matter supports the "pseudo-conformal" sound velocity for $n\gsim n_{1/2}$ while the trace of the energy momentum tensor remains non-vanishing. A plausible interpretation is that this signals the emergence of scale symmetry not explicitly present or hidden in QCD in the vacuum. The fundamental constant $g_A$, unaffected by QCD condensates for $n< n_{1/2}$, does go to 1 as the dilaton-limit fixed point is approached before arriving at chiral restoration, but it is not directly related to the "quenched $g_A$" in nuclei which can be explained as a Fermi-liquid fixed point quantity. The mechanism that produces a precocious pseudo-conformal sound velocity is expected to impact on the tidal deformability $\Lambda$ in gravity waves from coalescing neutron stars.