arXiv subjects

Mateus Reinke Pelicer

Publications and source records attributed to Mateus Reinke Pelicer.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Including Thermal Mesons and Meson Resonances in the Chiral Mean-Field Equation of State

The Chiral Mean-Field (CMF) model describes dense matter in terms of baryons and quarks interacting through scalar and vector meson mean fields. In the mean-field approximation, the meson fields are replaced by their expectation values. Their role in generating interactions and in-medium properties is retained, but explicit thermal mesonic excitations are absent. This becomes increasingly problematic at high temperature, where mesons contribute significantly to the thermodynamics of hadronic matter. Here, we keep the original CMF description of dense matter and add the thermal mesonic degrees of freedom using the mesonic sector of the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) module in the MUSES framework. Ground-state pseudoscalar and vector mesons account for the missing thermal excitations, while mesonic resonances provide, within the HRG picture, an effective description of mesonic interactions through resonance formation. We study how these contributions affect the pressure, entropy density, energy density, and baryon density, and compare the resulting equation of state with continuum-extrapolated lattice-QCD calculations.

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arXiv2026

How strange: Phase diagrams with 3 critical points

We show that the Chiral Mean-Field model (CMF) can produce a phase diagram with three critical points: the nuclear liquid-gas transition, quark deconfinement, and a strangeness driven transition. The strangeness driven transition separates a mainly nucleonic phase from one dominated by hyperons and baryon resonances. We discuss the compositional change in these transitions and their possible signatures in heavy-ion collisions and neutron star mergers.

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arXiv2026

MUSES workflows for pQCD constraints on dense matter with finite quark masses

We present a modular implementation of next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD (pQCD) thermodynamics with finite strange quark mass in the MUSES Calculation Engine, enabling reproducible connections between high-density QCD calculations and neutron star observables. Using this implementation, we investigate the interplay between flavor symmetry and physically motivated renormalization-scale prescriptions in cold, $β$-equilibrated quark matter. We compare prescriptions associated with the conserved-charge $BQS$, isospin $BI_3S$, and $SU(3)$ Cartan $BI_3Y$ bases, and show that their different symmetry properties at finite perturbative order can significantly affect the predicted flavor composition. In particular, while the $BQS$ and $BI_3Y$ prescriptions yield the same reduced $β$-equilibrated \eos{} for $μ_S=0$, they can predict different flavor compositions, whereas the $BI_3S$ prescription generates additional contributions to the charge-neutrality condition and develops strong scale dependence at low chemical potentials. We then apply stability and causality constraints to investigate the effect of the strange quark mass on the neutron star \eos{}. In an exploratory benchmark at $μ_B=2.4$~GeV and fixed fiducial renormalization scale, increasing the fixed strange quark mass from $m_s=0$ to $m_s=300$~MeV reduces the fraction of \eos{} in our prior that is incompatible with the pQCD constraint from 51\% to 36\% and qualitatively changes the region of \eos{} space that is selected, retaining greater support for stiffer behavior. These results motivate systematic studies of strange quark mass and renormalization-scale uncertainties in pQCD constraints. The MUSES implementation provides a modular framework for such extensions and for future higher-order calculations.

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arXiv2026

Phase Stability in the 3-Dimensional Open-source Code for the Chiral mean-field Model

In this paper we explore independently for the first time three chemical potentials (baryon $μ_B$, charged $μ_Q$, and strange $μ_S$) in the Chiral Mean Field (CMF) model. We designed and implemented \texttt{CMF++}, a new version of the CMF model rewritten in \texttt{C++} that is optimized, modular, and well-documented. \texttt{CMF++} has been integrated into the MUSES Calculation Engine as a free and open-source software module. The runtime improved in more than 4 orders of magnitude across all 3 chemical potentials, when compared to the legacy code. Here we focus on the zero temperature case and study stable, as well as metastable and unstable, vacuum, hadronic, and quark phases, showing how phase boundaries vary with the different chemical potentials. Due to the significant numerical improvements in \texttt{CMF++}, we can now for the first time sweep the entire $μ_B$, $μ_S$, $μ_Q$ phase space, investigate metastable phases, and calculate high-order susceptibilities within the CMF framework. This allows us to find phases of matter that include a light hadronic phase, a strangeness-dominated hadronic phase, and a quark phase. The numerical improvements also allow us to identify the order of the transitions among these phases, finding a first-order chiral symmetry restoration phase transition among the hadronic phases (favored for negative $μ_Q$ and/or $μ_S$ for some coupling schemes), in addition to third-order phase transitions. In particular, we identify for the first time triple points in the CMF model, where both chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement phase transitions meet in the chemical potential phase space. Such points could potentially be identified in low-energy heavy-ion collisions.

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arXiv2026

Strangeness Transport in Binary Neutron Star Mergers

The presence of hyperons in the cores of neutron stars opens fast strangeness equilibration channels that can produce bulk-viscous dissipation during binary inspiral. Because these reactions coexist with electron $β$-equilibration, tidal compression can drive the two coupled chemical imbalances far beyond linear response. We construct the first reaction network that self-consistently evolves the electron and strangeness fractions with a four-dimensional strangeness-dependent chiral mean-field (CMF) equation of state, including nucleonic and hyperonic Urca processes and non-leptonic hyperon reactions. For periodic density perturbations, representative of inspiral oscillations, we find that rapid strangeness conversion can generate a large $β$-imbalance, after which slow $β$-equilibration bottlenecks strangeness relaxation. Rather than decaying exponentially, the coupled system consequently exhibits dynamically important algebraic decay in a far-from-equilibrium regime. At the $\rm keV$ temperatures expected during inspiral, this nonlinear response produces a broad enhancement of the effective bulk viscosity, reaching $\sim10^{31}\,\mathrm{g\,cm^{-1}\,s^{-1}}$ for $320$ Hz oscillations. A phenomenological estimate of continuous inspiral dissipation yields gravitational-wave phase shifts up to $\sim0.14$ rad for neutron stars with hyperonic cores. Self-consistent, far-from-equilibrium strangeness transport may therefore provide a dynamical probe of hyperons in neutron-star interiors.

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arXiv2026

Nuclear matter equation of state and astrophysics

Neutron-star masses, radii, and inspiral tidal deformabilities now provide quantitative constraints on the cold equation of state (\eos), favoring relatively soft matter around one to two times nuclear saturation density and substantial stiffening at larger density. These bulk constraints, however, do not uniquely determine the microscopic composition of the stellar core. Hyperons, deconfined quarks, quarkyonic matter, and strong first-order phase transitions remain viable possibilities. This article summarizes the present multimessenger status and emphasizes the next challenge---a unified description of strongly interacting matter across catalyzed neutron stars, binary mergers, and heavy-ion collisions. Recent results presented at SQM2026, including new constraints on hyperon interactions and advances in multidimensional equation-of-state modeling, highlight the complementary experimental and theoretical inputs required for this program. The MUSES Calculation Engine provides modular software infrastructure for connecting these inputs to astrophysical and heavy-ion applications.

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arXiv2026

Neural-Accelerated Bayesian Calibration of Chiral Mean-Field Models to Nuclear Saturation and Vacuum Properties

Chiral models of nuclear interactions provide approximate, phenomenological descriptions of dense matter that respect the symmetries of quantum chromodynamics. Their Lagrangian parameters, however, are difficult to calibrate because these models are not controlled effective theories. Furthermore, repeated model evaluations are computationally expensive, and most parameter choices fail to reproduce acceptable saturation properties or hadron masses in vacuum. To address this, we develop a Bayesian inference framework to identify parameter regions consistent with nuclear saturation properties and vacuum experimental constraints. We implement this framework through a neural-network surrogate approximation that accelerates the repeated mapping from model parameters to nuclear and particle observables. Our fully-modular, neural-accelerated Bayesian framework interfaces the open-source MUSES Calculation Engine, the Bilby inference library, and the PyTorch machine-learning toolkit. We then apply the framework to the chiral mean-field model with a new generalized quartic vector self-interaction sector. We find that viable solutions are rare but broadly distributed within certain regions of parameter space, with the data constraining combinations of couplings more strongly than individual Lagrangian parameters. The resulting degeneracies imply that distinct saturation-compatible models can lead to qualitatively different descriptions of dense nuclear matter and, thus, of neutron stars, highlighting the need to combine terrestrial and astrophysical information.

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arXiv2026

Studying the QCD Matter produced in Heavy-Ion Collisions using the MUSES Calculation Engine

The equation of state of hot and dense matter is essential for describing heavy-ion collisions at all collision energies. Here, we explore the capabilities of the latest version of the MUSES Calculation Engine, $\textit{Calliope}$, focusing on software modules and workflows that compute the equation of state and observable properties of the matter produced in heavy-ion collisions. These include several equations of state, ranging from first-principles lattice QCD to phenomenological approaches, with or without a critical point, and with phase-space dimensionality ranging from two dimensions defined by temperature $T$ and baryon chemical potential $μ_B$, to four dimensions after the addition of strangeness and electric-charge chemical potentials $μ_S$ and $μ_Q$. We also discuss modules that provide additional thermodynamic quantities and observables relevant for heavy-ion modeling, including elements of the pressure Hessian matrix and transport coefficients. Workflow examples are constructed that merge two equations of state thermodynamically consistently to extend phase-diagram coverage, and feed the results into an equation of state inverter to produce inputs suitable for hydrodynamic simulations. Finally, we apply this framework to perform a relativistic viscous hydrodynamic simulation with equations of state with an extended $T$ and $μ_B$ coverage and a movable critical point, including effects from transport coefficients that phenomenologically encode critical scaling, at collision energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7, 19.6$, and $39$ GeV.

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arXiv2025

Building Neutron Stars with the MUSES Calculation Engine

Exploring the equation of state of dense matter is an essential part of interpreting the observable properties of neutron stars. We present here the first results for dense matter in the zero-temperature limit generated by the MUSES Calculation Engine, a composable workflow management system that orchestrates calculation and data processing stages comprising a collection of software modules designed within the MUSES framework. The modules presented in this work calculate equations of state using algorithms spanning three different theories/models: (1) Crust Density Functional Theory, valid starting at low densities, (2) Chiral Effective Field Theory, valid around saturation density, and (3) the Chiral Mean Field model, valid beyond saturation density. Lepton contributions are added through the Lepton module to each equation of state, ensuring charge neutrality and the possibility of $β$-equilibrium. Using the Synthesis module, we match the three equations of state using different thermodynamic variables and different methods. We then couple the complete equation of state to a novel full-general-relativity solver (QLIMR) module that calculates neutron star properties. We find that the matching performed using different thermodynamic variables affects differently the range obtained for neutron star masses and radii (although never beyond a few percent difference). We also investigate the universality of equation of state-independent relations for our matched stars. Finally, for the first time, we use the Flavor Equilibration module to estimate bulk viscosity and flavor relaxation charge fraction and rates (at low temperature) for Chiral Effective Field Theory and the Chiral Mean Field model.

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arXiv2019

Exclusive heavy quark-pair production in ultraperipheral collisions

In this article, we study the fully differential observables of exclusive production of heavy (charm and bottom) quark pairs in high-energy ultraperipheral $pA$ and $AA$ collisions. In these processes, the nucleus $A$ serves as an efficient source of the photon flux, while the QCD interaction of the produced heavy-quark pair with the target ($p$ or $A$) proceeds via an exchange of gluons in a color singlet state, described by the gluon Wigner distribution. The corresponding predictions for differential cross sections were obtained by using the dipole $S$-matrix in the McLerran--Venugopalan saturation model with impact parameter dependence for the nucleus target, and its recent generalization, for the proton target. Prospects of experimental constraints on the gluon Wigner distribution in this class of reactions are discussed.

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