Nuclear Liquid-Gas Transition in the Strong Coupling Regime of Lattice QCD

The nuclear liquid-gas transition from a gas of hadrons to a nuclear phase cannot be determined numerically from conventional lattice QCD due to the severe sign problem at large values of the baryon chemical potential. In the strong coupling regime of lattice QCD with staggered quarks, the dual formulation is suitable to address the nuclear liquid gas transition. We determine this first order transition at low temperatures and as a function of the quark mass and the inverse gauge coupling $\beta$. We also determine the baryon mass and discuss the nuclear interactions as a function of the quark mass, and compare to mean field results.