Critical analysis of quark-meson coupling models for nuclear matter and finite nuclei

Three versions of the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model are applied to describe properties of nuclear matter and finite nuclei. The models differ in the treatment of the bag constant and in terms of non-linear scalar self-interactions. In two versions of the model the bag constant is held fixed at its free-space value whereas in the third model it depends on the density of the nuclear environment. As a consequence opposite predictions for the medium modifications of the internal nucleon structure arise. After calibrating the model parameters at equilibrium nuclear matter density, binding energies, charge radii, single-particle spectra and density distributions of spherical nuclei are analyzed and compared with QHD calculations. For the models which predict a decreasing size of the nucleon in the nuclear environment, unrealistic features of the nuclear shapes arise.