Probing the core of the strong nuclear interaction

Understand

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 (QCD).
• However, as these equations cannot be solved directly, physicists resort to describing nuclear interactions using effective models that are well constrained at typical inter-nucleon distances in nuclei but not at shorter distances.
• This limits our ability to describe high-density nuclear matter such as in the cores of neutron stars.