Abstract
If quark matter is energetically favored over nuclear matter at zero temperature and pressure, then it has long been expected to take the form of strange quark matter (SQM), with comparable amounts of u, d, and s quarks. The possibility of quark matter with only u and d quarks (udQM) is usually dismissed because of the observed stability of ordinary nuclei. However, we find that udQM generally has lower bulk energy per baryon than normal nuclei and SQM. This emerges in a phenomenological model that describes the spectra of the lightest pseudoscalar and scalar meson nonets. Taking into account the finite size effects, udQM can be the ground state of baryonic matter only for baryon number A>A_{min} with A_{min}≳300. This ensures the stability of ordinary nuclei and points to a new form of stable matter just beyond the periodic table.
Highlights
Introduction.—Hadronic matter is usually thought to be the ground state of baryonic matter at zero temperature and pressure
Constituent quark masses vanish inside the bag, and strange quark matter (SQM) is found to reach lower energy than quark matter with only u and d quarks
A faster catastrophic conversion could occur if the ground state were instead udQM
Summary
Taking into account the finite size effects, udQM can be the ground state of baryonic matter only for baryon number A > Amin with Amin ≳ 300 This ensures the stability of ordinary nuclei and points to a new form of stable matter just beyond the periodic table. We shall show that surface effects are of a size that can ensure that Amin ≳ 300 by numerically solving the scalar field equation of motion This points to the intriguing possibility that a new form of stable matter consisting only of u and d quarks might exist not far beyond the end of the periodic table.
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