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Fermi-liquid view of viscosity in cold and dense nucleon matter

Jianing Li1,2,3,*, Weiyao Ke3,†, and Jin Hu4,‡

  • *Contact author: ljianing@physi.uni-heidelberg.de
  • †Contact author: weiyaoke@ccnu.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: hu-j23@fzu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. C 113, 064901 – Published 4 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/77kj-8v36

Abstract

We develop a framework to calculate transport properties in cold, dense relativistic quasiparticle system within the Fermi-liquid theory at the mean-field level. Building on our previous study J. Li et al. [Phys. Rev. C 111, 044904 (2025)], we start from the linearized relativistic Boltzmann equation tailored to quasiparticles with medium-dependent dispersion relation and implement Landau matching conditions, proving that the bulk viscosity is manifestly nonnegative. A low-temperature expansion then yields leading-order (T/μ*) expressions for the shear (η) and bulk (ζ) viscosities, where the behavior ζ/η∝(T/μ*)4 in the degenerate regime is found to be robust against quasiparticle mass correction. We couple the kinetic framework to a Walecka-type mean-field equation of state and compute η and ζ for cold, dense nucleon matter. The transport properties of nucleonic matter in the degenerate regime can be relevant for intermediate beam-energy nuclear experiments.

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Phys. Rev. C 113, 064901– Published 4 June, 2026
  • Received 16 December 2025
  • Accepted 18 March 2026
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