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McLerran, Larry D.

Publications and source records attributed to McLerran, Larry D..

Quarkyonic mean field theory

We discuss mean field theory of quarkyonic matter at zero temperature. We treat the nucleons with contact interactions in mean field approximation, discussing both vector and scalar mean field interactions. We treat the quarks without mean field vector interactions, but allow mass terms to be generated consistently from a scalar mean field consistent with the additive quark model for quark masses. Quarkyonic matter is composed of a shell of nucleons that under-occupy the total available phase space associated with the underlying quark degrees of freedom. Here, the fully occupied Fermi sphere beneath this shell of nucleons at high densities is thought of as quarks, but when this fully occupied distribution of states first appears, although the phase space is filled, the matter is at low density. For the transition between this low density and high density saturated matter, we advocate a dual description of the fully filled Fermi sea in terms of hadrons, and make a phenomenological hypothesis for the equation of state of this matter. We then proceed to an example where the mean field interactions are all vector and only associated with the nucleons, ignoring the effects of mass change associated with the scalar interactions. Except for the effects of Pauli blocking, the nucleons and quarks do not interact. To get a reasonable transition to quarkyonic matter the interaction of the quarks among themselves are assumed to be nonperturbative, and a simple phenomenological relation between quark Fermi energy and density is introduced.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Trace Anomaly as Signature of Conformality in Neutron Stars

We discuss an interpretation that a peak in the sound velocity in neutron star matter, as suggested by the observational data, signifies strongly coupled conformal matter. Here, the normalized trace anomaly is a dimensionless measure of conformality leading to the derivative and the nonderivative contributions to the sound velocity. We find that the peak in the sound velocity is attributed to the derivative contribution from the trace anomaly that steeply approaches the conformal limit. Smooth continuity to the behavior of high-density QCD implies that the matter part of the trace anomaly may be positive definite. We discuss a possible implication of the positivity condition of the trace anomaly on the M–R relation of the neutron stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Quarkyonic effective field theory, quark-nucleon duality, and ghosts

We present a field theoretical description of quarkyonic matter consisting of quark, nucleon, and ghost fields coupling to mesonic degrees of freedom. The ghosts are present to cancel overcounting of nucleon states that are Pauli blocked by the quark Fermi sea. Such a theory becomes an effective field theory of nucleons at low baryon density and as such will reproduce nucleonic matter phenomenology. Here, this theory can accommodate chiral symmetry restoration and the dynamical generation of a shell of nucleons at the Fermi surface. It is valid for finite temperature and density. In such a theory, quark-nucleon duality is accomplished by inclusion of ghost fields so that the nucleons extra degrees of freedom, that are beyond those of quarks, are compensated by the ghost fields.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗