$^{16}\mathrm{O}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ at RHIC and the LHC comparing $\alpha$ clustering vs substructure

TL;DR

This study investigates the potential to detect alpha clustering in oxygen-16 nuclei through relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC, using advanced simulations and analyzing flow harmonic ratios.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining ab initio nuclear lattice simulations with state-of-the-art hydrodynamic modeling to differentiate nuclear structures in collision outcomes.

Findings

Oxygen-16 systems are far from equilibrium initially.

Hydrodynamic behavior emerges only at late times.

Flow harmonic ratios reveal differences between alpha clustering and other structures.

Abstract

Collisions of light and heavy nuclei in relativistic heavy-ion collisions have been shown to be sensitive to nuclear structure. With a proposed $^{16}\mathrm{O}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ run at the LHC and RHIC we study the potential for finding $\alpha$ clustering in $^{16}$O. Here we use the state-of-the-art iEBE-VISHNU package with $^{16}$O nucleonic configurations from {\rm ab initio} nuclear lattice simulations. This setup was tuned using a Bayesian analysis on pPb and PbPb systems. We find that the $^{16}\mathrm{O}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ system always begins far from equilibrium and that at LHC and RHIC it approaches the regime of hydrodynamic applicability only at very late times. Finally, by taking ratios of flow harmonics we are able to find measurable differences between $\alpha$-clustering, nucleonic, and subnucleonic degrees of freedom in the initial state.