Binding of fractional charges to nuclei

Abstract

Fractional charges accompanied by unconfined gluon fields will be tightly bound to nuclei because of the strong color polarizability of nuclear matter. Consequently, the threshold for producing fractional charges in nucleus-nucleus collisions may be significantly lower than in $\mathrm{pp}$ or $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collisions. The signature for this threshold would be the appearance of nuclei with anomalous properties.