We present a relativistic chiral theory of nuclear matter which includes the effect of confinement. Nuclear binding is obtained with a chiral invariant scalar background field associated with the radial fluctuations of the chiral condensate Nuclear matter stability is ensured once the scalar response of the nucleon depending on the quark confinement mechanism is properly incorporated. All the parameters are fixed or constrained by hadron phenomenology and lattice data. A good description of nuclear saturation is reached, which includes the effect of in-medium pion loops. Asymmetry properties of nuclear matter are also well described once the full rho meson exchange and Fock terms are included.
These are personal recollections of how Gerry Brown's work and thinking influenced the development of the chiral effective Lagrangian based theory of nuclear forces.
We report on our progress in the calculation of nuclear ground-state properties using effective Lagrangians whose construction is constrained by QCD scales and chiral symmetry. Good evidence is found that QCD and chiral symmetry apply to finite nuclei.
It is shown that an enhancement in the spectral function near 2$m_π$ threshold in the I=J=0 channel is a good signal of the partial restoration of chiral symmetry in nuclear medium. Several experiments are discussed to detect the enhancement, which uses hadron-nucleus and photo-nucleus reactions.
A survey is given on selected topics concerning the role of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in low-energy QCD, and its dynamical implications for nuclear systems. This includes aspects of chiral thermodynamics (the temperature and density dependence of the chiral condensate). It also includes an update on the theory of low-energy (s-wave) pion-nuclear interactions relevant for deeply-bound states of pionic atoms and the quest for possible fingerprints of chiral symmetry restoration in nuclear systems.
We study a chiral relativistic theory of nuclear matter aimed at the desciption of both the binding and saturation properties and the QCD properties, quark condensate and QCD susceptibilities. For this purpose the nucleon scalar response of the quark-meson coupling model is introduced in the linear sigma model. The consequences for the nuclear and the QCD scalar susceptibilities are discussed.
A survey is given of the evolution from Yukawa's early work, via the understanding of the pion as a Nambu-Goldstone boson of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry in QCD, to modern developments in the theory of the nucleus based on the chiral effective field theory representing QCD in its low-energy limit.
In these proceedings, we discuss the current status of nuclear bound state predictions based on chiral nuclear interactions. Results of ordinary $s$- and $p$-shell nuclei and light hypernuclei are shown.
QCD sum rules for chiral partners in the open-charm meson sector are presented at nonzero baryon net density or temperature. We focus on the differences between pseudo-scalar and scalar as well as vector and axial-vector D mesons and derive the corresponding Weinberg type sum rules. This allows for the identification of such QCD condensates which drive the non-degeneracy of chiral partners in lowest order of the strong coupling alpha_s and which therefore may serve as "order parameters" for chiral restoration (or elements thereof).
We investigate nuclear matter, i.e. the nuclear equation-of-state (EOS) as well as the relativistic mean fields in the chiral limit. The investigations are based on a chiral nucleon-nucleon EFT interaction where the explicit and implicit pion mass dependence is known up to next-to-leading order. The nuclear bulk properties are found to remain fairly stable in the chiral limit. Based on the same interaction the in-medium scalar condensate is derived, both in Hartree-Fock approximation as well as from the Brueckner G-matrix, making thereby use of the Hellman-Feynman theorem. Short distance physi…
We establish the interrelation between the QCD scalar response of the nuclear medium and its response to a scalar probe coupled to nucleons, such as the scalar meson responsible for the nuclear binding. The relation that we derive applies at the nucleonic as well as at the nuclear levels. Non trivial consequences follow. One concerns the scalar QCD susceptibility of the nucleon. The other opens the possibility of relating medium effects in the scalar meson exchange of nuclear physics to QCD lattice studies of the nucleon mass.
In the article "On chiral symmetry restoration at finite density in large-$N_c$ QCD" by Adhikari, Cohen, Ayyagari and Strother [Phys. Rev. C 83, 065201 (2011)] the description of dense nuclear matter by means of Skyrmions in hyperspherical unit cells is severely criticized. We point out that this criticism is based on invalid assumptions and therefore unwarranted.
In spite of the great progress we have seen in recent years in the derivation of nuclear forces from chiral effective field theory (EFT), some important issues are still unresolved. In this contribution, we discuss the open problems which have particular relevance for microscopic nuclear structure, namely, the proper renormalization of chiral nuclear potentials and sub-leading many-body forces.
Realistic nuclear potentials, derived within chiral perturbation theory, are a major breakthrough in modern nuclear structure theory, since they provide a direct link between nuclear physics and its underlying theory, namely the QCD. As a matter of fact, chiral potentials are tailored on the low-energy regime of nuclear structure physics, and chiral perturbation theory provides on the same footing two-nucleon forces as well as many-body ones. This feature fits well with modern advances in ab-initio methods and realistic shell-model. Here, we will review recent nuclear structure calculations, b…
We review the main achievements of the research programme for the study of nuclear forces in the framework of chiral symmetry and discuss some problems which are still open.
The present note summarizes the discourse on power counting issues of chiral nuclear forces, with an emphasis on renormalization-group invariance. Given its introductory nature, I will lean toward narrating a coherent point of view on the concepts, rather than covering comprehensively the development of chiral nuclear forces in different approaches.
Two recent experiments have demonstrated that the effective $ρ$-mass in nuclear medium, as extracted from the $^3He(γ, π^+ π^-)$ reaction, is substantially reduced. This has been advocated as an indication of partial restoration of chiral symmetry in nuclear matter. We show that even in the absence of chiral symmetry, effective mean field nuclear matter models can explain these findings quantitatively.
We present a new chiral power expansion scheme for the nuclear equation of state. The scheme is effective in the sense that it is constructed to work around nuclear saturation density. The leading and subleading terms are evaluated and are shown to provide an excellent equation of state. As a further application we considered the chiral quark condensate in nuclear matter. Already at nuclear saturation density we predict a substantially smaller reduction of the condensate as compared to conventional approaches.
The baryon self-energies are expressed in terms of the QCD condensates of the lowest dimension in symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter within the QCD sum-rule approach. The self-energies are shown to satisfy the Gell-Mann--Okubo relations in the linear SU(3) breaking approximation. The results are in qualitative agreement with those obtained by the standard nuclear physics methods.
We substantiate our statement that the deuteron remains bound in the chiral limit. We critically discuss recent claims that effective field theory cannot give a definite answer to this question.
We establish the interrelation between the QCD scalar response of the nuclear medium and its response to a scalar probe coupled to nucleons, such as the scalar meson responsible for the nuclear binding. The relation that we derive applies at the nucleonic as well as at the nuclear levels. Non trivial consequences follow. In particular it opens the possibility of relating medium effects in the scalar meson exchange or three-body forces of nuclear physics to QCD lattice studies of the nucleon mass
The scalar and vectorial self energies obtained through QCD sum rules are introduced in the Quantum Hadrodynamics (QHD) equations. This QHD and QCD mixing show us that the effect of the density on the coupling constants is very small.
We discuss partial restoration of chiral symmetry in nuclear medium, which is realized as an effective reduction of the quark condensate in nuclear medium. We derive the in-medium Weinberg-Tomozawa relation. We also give a brief calculation of the in-medium quark condensate based on chiral perturbation theory. We conclude that the density dependence of the quark condensate beyond the linear density comes from the vertex correction of the chiral field insertion and nucleon correlations.
After giving brief discussions on the chiral condensate in hot and/or dense hadronic matter and the significance of the $σ$ meson in QCD, we discuss the importance of experiments using nuclear targets including ones with electro-magnetic probes for obtaining clearer confirmation of the existence of the $σ$ meson and for exploring the possible restoration of chiral symmetry in nuclear medium.
This paper is a write-up of introductory lectures on the modern approach to the nuclear force problem based on chiral effective field theory given at the 2009 Joliot-Curie School, Lacanau, France, 27 September - 3 October 2009.
We give a general overview about the approaches to study the phase diagram of QCD. Thereafter, we examine the evolution of a fireball in a chiral fluid dynamic model including nonequilibrium effects.
N* masses in the spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 sectors are computed using two non-perturbative methods: lattice QCD and QCD sum rules. States with both positive and negative parity are isolated via parity projection methods. The basic pattern of the mass splittings is consistent with experiments. The mass splitting within the same parity pair is directly linked to the chiral symmetry breaking QCD.
In this paper we discuss the combined effects on nuclear matter properties of the quark confinement mechanism in nucleon and of the chiral effective potential resulting from the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry in nuclear matter. Based on the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio predictions, it is shown that the chiral potential acquires a specific scalar field cubic dependence, which contributes to the three-body interaction. We also discuss the constraints induced by Lattice-QCD on the model parameters governing the saturation properties. We introduce the term "QCD-connected parameters" for these q…
Out of the many exciting results obtained with the lattice approach to QCD under extreme conditions, I discuss a few selected items related to chiral symmetry: the chiral condensate as an approximate order parameter, meson screening masses, and masses of baryons and mesons, including D(s) mesons, when approaching the crossover from the hadronic side.
I show an updated QCD phase diagram with recent developments from chiral effective theories and phenomenological models. Expected signals of a QCD critical point accessible in heavy-ion collisions are also discussed. In particular, non-monotonic behavior of fluctuations associated with conserved charges is focused on.
I discuss the progress we have made on modifying Weinberg's prescription for chiral nuclear forces, using renormalization group invariance as the guideline. Some of the published results are presented.
A compressible liquid-drop approach adjusted to uniform matter many-body calculations based on chiral EFT interactions and to the experimental nuclear masses is used to investigate the neutron star crust properties. Eight chiral EFT hamiltonians and a representative phenomenological force (SLy4) are confronted. We show that some properties of the crust, e.g. clusters mass, charge, and asymmetry, are mostly determined by symmetric matter properties close to saturation density and are therefore mainly constrained by experimental nuclear masses, while other properties, e.g., energy per particle, …
Infinite sets of sum rules involving the excitations of infinite nuclear matter are derived using only completeness, the current algebra implicit in QCD, and relativistic covariance. The sum rules can be used for isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter, including neutron matter. They relate the chiral condensate and the isospin density to weighted sums over states with fixed velocity relative to the nuclear matter ground state.
We report on recent work about the study of quark mass dependence of nucleon magnetic moments and axial-vector coupling constant. We examine the feasibility of chiral effective field theory methods for the extrapolation of lattice QCD data obtained at relative large pion masses down to the physical values.
We study inhomogeneous chiral phases in nuclear matter using a hadronic model with the parity doublet structure. With an extended ansatz for the dual chiral density wave off the chiral limit, we numerically determine the phase structure. A new type of dual chiral density wave where the condensate has nonvanishing space average is confirmed and it comes to occupy a wide range of low density region as the chiral invariant mass parameter is lowered.
We review how nuclear forces emerge from low-energy QCD via chiral effective field theory. The presentation is accessible to the non-specialist. At the same time, we also provide considerable detailed information (mostly in appendices) for the benefit of researchers who wish to start working in this field.
Nonperturbative Wilson coefficients associated with the leading chiral-symmetry-breaking operators in the operator product expansion of the pseudoscalar QCD correlation function are derived. Implementation of the new, instanton-induced operators enables the corresponding spectral sum rule to reproduce the small pion mass scale, thereby reconciling it with Goldstone's theorem. The same operators suppress the contributions of pionic resonances. Several predictions and structural insights from the new sum rule are discussed.
In this talk we present a description of nuclear binding in a chiral approach based on the existence of a chiral invariant scalar field associated with the generation of the masses through spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. We discuss the emergence of such a field on the example of the NJL model. We also incorporate the effect of confinement at the level of the nucleon substructure to stabilize nuclear matter. In a particular quark-diquark model we illustrate the simutaneous influences of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and confinement on the nucleon mass and on the nuclear matter desc…
An attempt is made to interpret, in the framework of QCD, the likeness between the shapes of the neutron-neutron strong and electrostatic interactions at the distances $\sim 1÷3$ fm.
Lattice QCD is progressing toward being able to impact our understanding of nuclei and nuclear processes. I discuss areas of nuclear physics that are becoming possible to explore with lattice QCD, the techniques that are currently available and the status of numerical explorations.
I explain the concept that light quarks diffuse in the QCD vacuum following the spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry. I exploit the striking analogy to disordered electrons in metals, identifying, among others, the universal regime described by random matrix theory, diffusive regime described by chiral perturbation theory and the crossover between these two domains.
The chiral magnetic effect (CME) is an exact statement that connects via the axial anomaly the electric current in a system consisting of interacting fermions and gauge field with chirality imbalance that is put into a strong external magnetic field. Experimental search of the magnetically induced current in QCD in heavy ion collisions above a pseudocritical temperature hints, though not yet conclusive, that the induced current is either small or vanishing. This would imply that the chirality imbalance in QCD above $T_c$ that could be generated via topological fluctuations is at most very smal…
We analyze the chiral phase transition with the help of the QCD gap equation. Various models for the effective interaction in rainbow truncation are contrasted with regard to the resulting chiral transition temperatures. In particular, we investigate possible systematic relations of the details of the effective interaction and the value of T_c. In addition, we quantify changes to the transition temperature beyond the rainbow truncation.
We present the renormalized Taylor expansion of the chiral condensate with chemical potential. The relation with the Taylor coefficients of meson susceptibilities and the quark mass dependence of the quark number susceptibilities are obtained through chiral Ward identities and Maxwell relations. The continuum limit is obtained in quenched and two flavour QCD. In Nf=2 QCD, the quadratic response coefficients (QRCs) of the chiral condensate to chemical potential indicate that pion fluctuations decrease at finite chemical potential toward the critical end point. We discuss how these observables c…
These are the proceedings of the workshop on ``Lattice QCD, Chiral Perturbation Theory and Hadron Phenomenology'' held at the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas from October 2 to 6, 2006. The workshop concentrated on bringing together researchers working in lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory with the aim of improving our understanding how hadron properties can be calculated and analyzed from first principles. Included are a short contribution per talk.
Exploiting the recent lattice results for the infrared gluon propagator with light dynamical quarks, we solve the gap equation for the quark propagator. We thus model the chiral symmetry breaking mechanism with increasing number of flavours and study confinement (intimately tied with the analytic properties of QCD Schwinger functions) order parameters. We obtain, with this approach, clear signals of chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement when the number of light quark flavors exceeds a critical value of $N_f^c \approx 8 \pm 1$, in agreement with the state-of-the-art direct lattice analy…
I review recent progress in the development of Lattice QCD into a calculational tool for nuclear physics. Lattice QCD is currently the only known way of solving QCD in the low-energy regime, and it promises to provide a solid foundation for the structure and interactions of nuclei directly from QCD.
I review aspects of chiral dynamics pertinent to the structure of baryons and few-nucleon systems, such as chiral extrapolations for the nucleon and the delta mass, double pion photoproduction off protons, single neutral pion electroproduction off the deuteron, pion photoproduction in the delta region, the quark mass dependence of the nuclear forces and the possibility of an infrared limit cycle in QCD.
In-medium subthreshold KbarN scattering amplitudes calculated within a chirally motivated meson-baryon coupled-channel model are used self consistently to confront K^- atom data across the periodic table. Substantially deeper K^- nuclear potentials are obtained compared to the shallow potentials derived in some approaches from threshold amplitudes, with Re V_{chiral} = -(85+/-5) MeV at nuclear matter density. When KbarNN contributions are incorporated phenomenologically, a very deep K^- nuclear potential results, Re V_{chiral+phen.} = -(180+/-5) MeV, in agreement with density dependent potenti…
