Algebraic approach to quarkyoniclike configuration and stable diquarks in dense matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates the color-spin interactions in dense quark matter, revealing conditions under which baryons, quarks, and diquarks are energetically favored, supporting the existence of a quarkyonic-like phase.

Contribution

It introduces a classification of multiquark states based on flavor and spin symmetries, providing a model for the emergence of diquarks and quarkyonic-like phases in dense matter.

Findings

Baryons are energetically favored near single baryons.

Quarks become more stable in dense baryonic environments.

Diquarks are the lowest energy configurations at high density.

Abstract

We study the color-spin interaction energy of a quark, a diquark and a baryon with their surrounding baryons and/or quark matter. This is accomplished by classifying all possible flavor and spin states of the resulting multiquark configuration in both the flavor SU(2) and SU(3) symmetric cases. We find that while the baryon has the lowest interaction energy when there is only a single surrounding baryon, the quark has the lowest interaction energy when the surrounding has more than three baryons or becomes a quark gas. As the short range nucleon-nucleon interactions are dominated by the color-spin interactions, our finding suggests that the baryon modes near other baryons are suppressed due to larger repulsive energy compared to that of a quark and thus provides a quark model basis for the quarkyoniclike phase in dense matter. At the same time, when the internal interactions are taken into account, and the matter density is high so that the color-spin interaction becomes the dominant interaction, the diquark becomes the lowest energy configuration and will thus appear in both the dense baryonic and/or quark matter.