Towards a Connection Between Nuclear Structure and QCD

As we search for an ever deeper understanding of the structure of hadronic matter one of the most fundamental questions is whether or not one can make a connection to the underlying theory of the strong interaction, QCD. We build on recent advances in the chiral extrapolation problem linking lattice...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2004-11
Main Authors: Thomas, A W, Guichon, P A M, Leinweber, D B, Young, R D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Nuclear matter
Nuclear structure
Nuclei
Quantum chromodynamics
Strong interactions (field theory)
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:As we search for an ever deeper understanding of the structure of hadronic matter one of the most fundamental questions is whether or not one can make a connection to the underlying theory of the strong interaction, QCD. We build on recent advances in the chiral extrapolation problem linking lattice QCD at relatively large ``light quark'' masses to the physical world to estimate the scalar polarizability of the nucleon. The latter plays a key role in modern relativistic mean-field descriptions of nuclei and nuclear matter (such as QMC) and, in particular, leads to a very natural saturation mechanism. We demonstrate that the value of the scalar polarizability extracted from the lattice data is consistent with that needed for a successful description of nuclei within the framework of QMC. In a very real sense this is the first hint of a direct connection between QCD and the properties of finite nuclei.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0411014