Precision initial condition via nuclear structure imaging technique in high-energy heavy-ion collisions
ORAL
Abstract
The hydrodynamic modeling of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) permits us today not only to perform quantitative extractions of the transport properties of the QGP, but also to strongly constrain its initial condition. A growing body of experimental evidence shows that the QGP initial condition is strongly impacted by the shape and radial structure of the colliding nuclei. We discuss the exciting prospect of using precision flow measurements as a tool to image the structure of atomic nuclei, and show how such measurements probe the quadrupole, octupole, and triaxial deformations of the colliding ions, as well as their neutron skin. Motivated by recent groundbreaking measurements from RHIC and LHC, we discuss in particular the case of collisions of isobaric nuclei, which provide a clean access route to the collective structure of the colliding ions. We discuss the implications of nuclear structure on the initial condition of heavy ion collisions as well as the complementarity to the low-energy experiments. We argue that a scan of stable isobars at high-energy colliders may open a new exciting direction of research in nuclear physics.
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Publication: [1] "Shape of atomic nuclei in heavy ion collisions", Phys.Rev.C 105 (2022) 1, 014905<br>[2] "Probing triaxial deformation of atomic nuclei in high-energy heavy ion collisions", Phys.Rev.C 105 (2022) 4, 044905<br>[3] "Evidence of Quadrupole and Octupole Deformations in Zr96+Zr96 and Ru96+Ru96 Collisions at Ultrarelativistic Energies", Phys.Rev.Lett. 128 (2022) 2, 022301<br>[4] "Impact of Nuclear Deformation on Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions: Assessing Consistency in Nuclear Physics across Energy Scales", Phys.Rev.Lett. 127 (2021) 24, 242301<br>[5] "Separating the impact of nuclear skin and nuclear deformation on elliptic flow and its fluctuations in high-energy isobar collisions", arXiv:2206.10449
