I describe a novel phase structure of cold dense baryonic matter predicted in a hidden local symmetry approach anchored on gauge theory and in a holographic dual approach based on the Sakai-Sugimoto model of string theory. This new phase is populated with baryons with half-instanton quantum number in he gravity sector which is dual to halfskyrmion in gauge sector in which chiral symmet is restored while light-quark hadrons are in the color-confined phase. It is suggested that such a phase that aries at a density above that of normal nuclear matter and below or at the chiral restoration point can have a drastic influence on the properties of hadrons at high density, in particular on short-distance interactions between nucleons, e.g., multi-body forces at short distance and hadrons - in particular kaons - propagating in a dense medium. Potentially important consequences on the structure of compact stars will be predicted.
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