Level inversion in kaonic nuclei and the high-density nuclear equation of state

TL;DR

This paper explores how level inversion in light kaonic nuclei can serve as a novel tool to simultaneously constrain the saturation properties and high-density equation of state of nuclear matter.

Contribution

It introduces the use of level inversion in kaonic nuclei as a new method to connect saturation properties with high-density nuclear EOS.

Findings

Level inversion between $2S_{1/2}$ and $1D_{5/2}$ orbitals identified in light kaonic nuclei.

Level inversion can be used to relate nuclear incompressibility and high-density EOS.

First proposal to use this property for nuclear matter characterization.

Abstract

It is very difficult for any nuclear model to pin down the saturation property and high-density equation of state (EOS) simultaneously because of high nonlinearity of the nuclear many-body problem. In this work, we propose, for the first time, to use the special property of light kaonic nuclei to characterize the relation between saturation property and high-density EOS. With a series of relativistic mean-field models, this special property is found to be the level inversion between orbitals $2S_{1/2}$ and $1D_{5/2}$ in light kaonic nuclei. This level inversion can serve as a theoretical laboratory to group the incompressibility at saturation density and the EOS at supra-normal densities simultaneously.