Quarkyonic effective field theory, quark-nucleon duality, and ghosts

We present a field theoretical description of quarkyonic matter consisting of quark, nucleon, and ghost fields coupling to mesonic degrees of freedom. The ghosts are present to cancel overcounting of nucleon states that are Pauli blocked by the quark Fermi sea. Such a theory becomes an effective field theory of nucleons at low baryon density and as such will reproduce nucleonic matter phenomenology. This theory can accommodate chiral symmetry restoration and the dynamical generation of a shell of nucleons at the Fermi surface. It is valid for finite temperature and density. In such a theory, quark-nucleon duality is accomplished by inclusion of ghost fields so that the nucleons extra degrees of freedom, that are beyond those of quarks, are compensated by the ghost fields.

Automated summary

The theory presents a field theoretical description of quarkyonic matter, incorporating quark, nucleon, and ghost fields coupling to mesonic degrees of freedom. It becomes an effective field theory of nucleons at low baryon density, reproducing nucleonic matter phenomenology, accommodating chiral symmetry restoration, and generating a shell of nucleons at the Fermi surface. Quark-nucleon duality is achieved by inclusion of ghost fields to compensate for extra degrees of freedom beyond those of quarks.