Speaker
Description
There are currently no first-principle calculations for QCD at large, but not asymptotically large, baryon densities. For instance, we do not know at which densities there is a transition from nuclear matter to deconfined quark matter and what the nature of this transition is. I will discuss a holographic approach, using the Sakai-Sugimoto model, in which nuclear matter and quark matter are treated consistently on the same footing. In particular, baryons are described as instantons in the bulk and I will explain an approximation that takes into account instanton interactions. The results show that nuclear and quark matter can be connected continuously, and thus the model can be used to study a potential quark-hadron continuity at densities relevant for the cores of neutron stars.
