Effect of the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential on the transverse and elliptic flows

TL;DR

This study investigates how the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential influences nuclear flow observables in neutron-rich collisions, highlighting the importance of specific flow differences for probing symmetry energy and potential.

Contribution

It demonstrates the differential impact of momentum dependence on various flow observables, suggesting optimal methods for probing symmetry energy and its momentum dependence.

Findings

Momentum dependence affects neutron/proton rapidity distributions.

Neutron-proton differential transverse flow is more sensitive to momentum dependence.

Using flow differences helps isolate symmetry energy effects.

Abstract

In the framework of the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, effect of the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential on nuclear transverse and elliptic flows in the neutron-rich reaction $^{132}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon is studied. We find that the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential affects the rapidity distribution of the free neutron to proton ratio, the neutron and the proton transverse flows as a function of rapidity. The momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential affects the neutron-proton differential transverse flow more evidently than the difference of neutron and proton transverse flows as well as the difference of proton and neutron elliptic flows. It is thus better to probe the symmetry energy by using the difference of neutron and proton flows since the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential is still an open question. And it is better to probe the momentum dependence of nuclear symmetry potential by using the neutron-proton differential transverse flow and the rapidity distribution of the free neutron to proton ratio.