Towards a model-independent constraint of the high-density dependence of the symmetry energy

TL;DR

This paper investigates how neutron-proton elliptic flow differences and ratios can constrain the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy in heavy-ion collisions, using a model-independent approach and comparing with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent method to constrain the symmetry energy's density dependence using neutron-proton flow observables and compares results across different models and parametrizations.

Findings

Extracted a moderately stiff symmetry energy with x=-1.35 +/- 1.25.

Results agree with previous studies using different models and parametrizations.

Contrasts with diverging results from FOPI π−/π+ ratio analyses.

Abstract

Neutron-proton elliptic flow difference and ratio have been shown to be promising observables in the attempt to constrain the density dependence of the symmetry energy above the saturation point from heavy-ion collision data. Their dependence on model parameters like microscopic nucleon-nucleon cross-sections, compressibility of nuclear matter, optical potential, and symmetry energy parametrization is thoroughly studied. By using a parametrization of the symmetry energy derived from the momentum dependent Gogny force in conjunction with the T\"{u}bingen QMD model and comparing with the experimental FOPI/LAND data for 197Au+197Au collisions at 400 MeV/nucleon, a moderately stiff, x=-1.35 +/- 1.25, symmetry energy is extracted, a result that agrees with that of a similar study that employed the UrQMD transport model and a momentum independent power-law parametrization of the symmetry energy. This contrasts with diverging results extracted from the FOPI $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio available in the literature.