The hadron-quark transition with a lattice of nonlocal confining solitons

Abstract

We use a lattice of nonlocal confining solitons to describe nuclear matter in the Wigner-Seitz approximation. The average density is varied by changing the size of the Wigner-Seitz cell. At sufficiently large density quark energy bands develop. The intersection of the filled valence band with the next empty band at a few times standard nuclear density signals a transition from a color insulator to a color conductor and is identified with the critical density for quark deconfinement.