Unified approach to the quantum phase transitions in high-density QCD and ultracold atoms

在中子星内部实现的高密度物质中，可能会发生向夸克物质的跃迁和介子凝聚等奇异现象。在本研究中，强子物理和原子物理的研究人员共同研究了(1)QCD相的分类，(2)强耦合夸克物质和中子星结构，(3)多重子系统的格子QCD模拟，以及(4)冷原子气体中的量子现象。我们发现了强子-夸克对中子星质量的新的交叉效应，以及在实验室用冷原子/分子模拟稠密强子物质中介子凝聚的可能性。

Exotic phenomena such as the transition to quark matter and the meson condensation may occur in high density matter realized inside the neutron stars. In the present study, researchers in hadronic physics and atomic physics work together and investigate (1) the classification of the QCD phases, (2) strongly coupled quark matter and the neutron star structure, (3) lattice QCD simulations of the multi-baryon systems, and (4) quantum phenomena in cold atomic gasses. We have found that novel effect of the hadron-quark crossover to the mass of neutron stars, and also a possibility of simulating the meson condensation in dense hadronic matter by using cold atoms/molecules in the laboratory.