Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction
The strong nuclear interaction between nucleons (protons and neutrons) is the effective force that holds the atomic nucleus together. This force stems from fundamental interactions between quarks and gluons (the constituents of nucleons) that are described by the equations of quantum chromodynamics....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129724 |
| _version_ | 1826213148449832960 |
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| author | Schmidt, Aaron J Pybus, J. R. Segarra, E. P. Hrnjic, A. Denniston, A. Hen, Or Beck, Arie Cruz Torres, Reynier Gilad, Shalev May-Tal Beck, S Patsyuk, Maria Schmookler, Barak Abraham |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Schmidt, Aaron J Pybus, J. R. Segarra, E. P. Hrnjic, A. Denniston, A. Hen, Or Beck, Arie Cruz Torres, Reynier Gilad, Shalev May-Tal Beck, S Patsyuk, Maria Schmookler, Barak Abraham |
| author_sort | Schmidt, Aaron J |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The strong nuclear interaction between nucleons (protons and neutrons) is the effective force that holds the atomic nucleus together. This force stems from fundamental interactions between quarks and gluons (the constituents of nucleons) that are described by the equations of quantum chromodynamics. However, as these equations cannot be solved directly, nuclear interactions are described using simplified models, which are well constrained at typical inter-nucleon distances1–5 but not at shorter distances. This limits our ability to describe high-density nuclear matter such as that in the cores of neutron stars6. Here we use high-energy electron scattering measurements that isolate nucleon pairs in short-distance, high-momentum configurations7–9, accessing a kinematical regime that has not been previously explored by experiments, corresponding to relative momenta between the pair above 400 megaelectronvolts per c (c, speed of light in vacuum). As the relative momentum between two nucleons increases and their separation thereby decreases, we observe a transition from a spin-dependent tensor force to a predominantly spin-independent scalar force. These results demonstrate the usefulness of using such measurements to study the nuclear interaction at short distances and also support the use of point-like nucleon models with two- and three-body effective interactions to describe nuclear systems up to densities several times higher than the central density of the nucleus. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:44:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/129724 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:44:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1297242022-10-02T03:46:52Z Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction Schmidt, Aaron J Pybus, J. R. Segarra, E. P. Hrnjic, A. Denniston, A. Hen, Or Beck, Arie Cruz Torres, Reynier Gilad, Shalev May-Tal Beck, S Patsyuk, Maria Schmookler, Barak Abraham Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science The strong nuclear interaction between nucleons (protons and neutrons) is the effective force that holds the atomic nucleus together. This force stems from fundamental interactions between quarks and gluons (the constituents of nucleons) that are described by the equations of quantum chromodynamics. However, as these equations cannot be solved directly, nuclear interactions are described using simplified models, which are well constrained at typical inter-nucleon distances1–5 but not at shorter distances. This limits our ability to describe high-density nuclear matter such as that in the cores of neutron stars6. Here we use high-energy electron scattering measurements that isolate nucleon pairs in short-distance, high-momentum configurations7–9, accessing a kinematical regime that has not been previously explored by experiments, corresponding to relative momenta between the pair above 400 megaelectronvolts per c (c, speed of light in vacuum). As the relative momentum between two nucleons increases and their separation thereby decreases, we observe a transition from a spin-dependent tensor force to a predominantly spin-independent scalar force. These results demonstrate the usefulness of using such measurements to study the nuclear interaction at short distances and also support the use of point-like nucleon models with two- and three-body effective interactions to describe nuclear systems up to densities several times higher than the central density of the nucleus. 2021-02-09T19:34:11Z 2021-02-09T19:34:11Z 2020-02 2020-10-27T16:22:48Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0028-0836 1476-4687 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129724 Schmidt, Aaron et al. "Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction." Nature 578, 7796 (February 2020): 540-544 © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Limited. en 10.1038/S41586-020-2021-6 Nature Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Springer Science and Business Media LLC arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Schmidt, Aaron J Pybus, J. R. Segarra, E. P. Hrnjic, A. Denniston, A. Hen, Or Beck, Arie Cruz Torres, Reynier Gilad, Shalev May-Tal Beck, S Patsyuk, Maria Schmookler, Barak Abraham Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| title | Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| title_full | Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| title_fullStr | Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| title_short | Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| title_sort | probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129724 |
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