Color-dielectric-model nucleon in the nuclear medium.

Abstract

The color-dielectric model has been used to study the behavior of nucleons in the nuclear medium. Assuming that the nuclear medium generates a background color-dielectric field and a scalar density of quarks, the equations of motion of the quark and the color-dielectric field are solved in the presence of the background fields. The properties of the nucleon in the nuclear medium are then calculated from these solutions. The calculations show that the nucleon swells in the nuclear medium and the quark eigenenergy decreases. It is found that when the nuclear density is more than 0.08 ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$, bound quark states do not exist, thus implying that the nucleon dissolves into quark matter.