Can nuclear matter consist of $\alpha$-particles?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether a hypothetical infinite system of alpha particles can form stable nuclear matter, concluding that such a system would undergo spatial collapse due to interactions, thus explaining why nuclear matter is better described at the nucleon level.

Contribution

The paper derives a sufficient condition for spatial collapse in an alpha-particle system using variational principles and Jastrow correlations, demonstrating instability under Ali-Bodmer potentials.

Findings

Alpha-particle systems are unstable against collapse with certain interactions.

Nuclear matter stability requires nucleon degrees of freedom.

Theoretical evidence explains the necessity of nucleons in nuclear matter models.

Abstract

A sufficient condition for the spatial collapse in an infinite system of interacting Bose particles is obtained on the basis of the variational principle with the use of trial functions with the Jastrow pair correlation factors. The instability of a hypothetical infinite system of $\alpha$-particles with respect to the spatial collapse is shown under the assumption of the Ali - Bodmer interaction potentials between such Bose particles. Thus, it becomes clear why the hypothetical nuclear matter is naturally treated with the use of at least the nucleon degrees of freedom.