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1. QCD Constraints on Isospin-Dense Matter and the Nuclear Equation of State

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.011903  

   Abbott, Ryan; Detmold, William; Illa, Marc; Parreño, Assumpta; Perry, Robert J; Romero-López, Fernando; Shanahan, Phiala E; Wagman, Michael L (January 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   Understanding the behavior of dense hadronic matter is a central goal in nuclear physics as it governs the nature and dynamics of astrophysical objects such as supernovae and neutron stars. Because of the nonperturbative nature of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), little is known rigorously about hadronic matter in these extreme conditions. Here, lattice QCD calculations are used to compute thermodynamic quantities and the equation of state of QCD over a wide range of isospin chemical potentials with controlled systematic uncertainties. Agreement is seen with chiral perturbation theory when the chemical potential is small. Comparison to perturbative QCD at large chemical potential allows for an estimate of the gap in the superconducting phase, and this quantity is seen to agree with perturbative determinations. Since the partition function for an isospin chemical potential ${\mu }_I$bounds the partition function for a baryon chemical potential ${\mu }_B=3{\mu }_I/2$, these calculations also provide rigorous nonperturbative QCD bounds on the symmetric nuclear matter equation of state over a wide range of baryon densities for the first time. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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2. A Semi-analytical Method of Calculating Nuclear Collision Trajectory in the QCD Phase Diagram

   https://doi.org/10.31349/SuplRevMexFis.3.040920  

   Lin, Zi-Wei; Mendenhall, Todd (December 2022, Suplemento de la Revista Mexicana de Física)

   The finite nuclear thickness affects the energy density (t) and conserved-charge densities such as the net-baryon density nB(t) produced in heavy ion collisions. While the effect is small at high collision energies where the Bjorken energy density formula for the initial state is valid, the effect is large at low collision energies, where the nuclear crossing time is not small compared to the parton formation time. The temperature T(t) and chemical potentials µ(t) of the dense matter can be extracted from the densities for a given equation of state (EOS). Therefore, including the nuclear thickness is essential for the determination of the T-µB trajectory in the QCD phase diagram for relativistic nuclear collisions at low to moderate energies such as the RHIC-BES energies. In this proceeding, we will first discuss our semi-analytical method that includes the nuclear thickness effect and its results on the densities є(t), nB(t), nQ(t), and nS(t). Then, we will show the extracted T(t), µB(t), µQ(t), and µS(t) for a quark-gluon plasma using the ideal gas EOS with quantum or Boltzmann statistics. Finally, we will show the results on the T-µB trajectories in relation to the possible location of the QCD critical end point. This semi-analytical model provides a convenient tool for exploring the trajectories of nuclear collisions in the QCD phase diagram. 

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3. Dynamic modeling for heavy-ion collisions

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202225902001  

   Shen, Chun (January 2022, EPJ Web of Conferences)

   David, G.; Garg, P.; Kalweit, A.; Mukherjee, S.; Ullrich, T.; Xu, Z.; Yoo, I.-K. (Ed.)

   Recent theory progress in (3+1)D dynamical descriptions of relativistic nuclear collisions at finite baryon density are reviewed. Heavy-ion collisions at different collision energies produce strongly coupled nuclear matter to probe the phase structure of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Dynamical frameworks serve as a quantitative tool to study properties of hot QCD matter and map collisions to the QCD phase diagram. Outstanding challenges are highlighted when confronting theoretical models with the current and forthcoming experimental measurements from the RHIC beam energy scan program. 

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4. QCD at finite temperature and density - Equation of State

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202429601018  

   Karthein, Jamie (January 2024, EPJ Web of Conferences)

   Bellwied, R; Geurts, F; Rapp, R; Ratti, C; Timmins, A; Vitev, I (Ed.)

   As an important set of thermodynamic quantities, knowledge of the equation of state over a broad range of temperatures and chemical potentials in the QCD phase diagram is crucial for our understanding of strongly-interacting matter. There is a good understanding from first-principles results in lattice QCD, perturbative QCD and chiral effective field theory about the equation of state. However, these approaches are valid in different regimes of the phase diagram, and therefore, a method of providing an equation of state that covers a full range of the phase diagram involves matching together these results with appropriate models in order to fill in the gaps between these regions. Furthermore, with such equations of state, important questions about QCD phase structure can begin to be addressed, such as whether there is a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. In this contribution to the proceedings, equations of state from first-principles and effective theories will be discussed in order to understand how QCD thermodynamics is affected by the presence of a critical point. 

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5. Determination of the equation of state from nuclear experiments and neutron star observations

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02161-z  

   Tsang, Chun Yuen; Tsang, ManYee Betty; Lynch, William G; Kumar, Rohit; Horowitz, Charles J (March 2024, Nature Astronomy)

   Abstract: With recent advances in astronomical observations, major progress has been made in determining the pressure of neutron star matter at high density. This pressure is constrained by the neutron star deformability, determined from gravitational waves emitted in a neutron-star merger, and the mass-radii relation of two neutron stars, determined from a new X-ray observatory on the International Space Station. Previous studies have relied on nuclear theory calculations to constrain the equation of state at low density. Here we use a combination of constraints composed of three astronomical observations and twelve nuclear experimental constraints that extend over a wide range of densities. A Bayesian inference framework is then used to obtain a comprehensive nuclear equation of state. This data-centric result provides benchmarks for theoretical calculations and modeling of nuclear matter and neutron stars. Furthermore, it provides insights into the microscopic degrees of freedom of the nuclear matter equation of state and on the composition of neutron stars and their cooling via neutrino radiation. 

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