Quark deconfinement in nuclei: A review of experimental tests based on nuclear magnetic moment measurements

Abstract

The introduction very briefly outlines the basic idea and experimental evidence to suggest that quarks may behave differently in nuclei and in indididual nucleons, with possible consequences for the calculation of nuclear magnetic dipole moments. After description of a calculation of moments made using the extreme model of total quark deconfinement (the MIT bag model) attention is focussed on experimental tests and the state of current evidence for more partial quark deconfinement. The arguments of Yamazaki which give an experimental basis for distinguishing quark deconfinement effects from, specifically, effects caused by pion echange currents, are given in more detail. The reasons underlying choice of nuclei in which meaningful tests may be possible are given. Early claims by Karl et al. to have demonstrated the existence of quark deconfinement in mass 3 nuclei are discussed. The current status of evidence for deconfinement based on orbital gfactor measurements in heavier nuclei is also summarised. Finally some examples are given of possible experiments using recently developed on-line facilities which may provide further tests of these ideas.