Hard probes in isobar collisions as a probe of the neutron skin

TL;DR

This paper estimates the yield of hard probes in isobar collisions to investigate differences in neutron skin thickness, offering a new way to constrain the equation of state of neutron-rich matter.

Contribution

It introduces a method to use hard probe yields in isobar collisions as an independent measure of neutron skin differences.

Findings

Yields are proportional to binary nucleon-nucleon interactions.

Neutron skin differences affect the yields in isobar collisions.

Potential to constrain the equation of state of neutron-rich matter.

Abstract

We present an estimate of the yield of hard probes expected for collisions of the isobars $^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr at collision energies reachable at RHIC and the LHC\@. These yields are proportional to the number of binary nucleon-nucleon interactions, which is characteristically different due to the presence of the large neutron skin in $^{96}_{40}$Zr. This provides an independent opportunity to measure the difference between the neutron skin of $^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr, which can provide an important constraint on the Equation of State of cold neutron-rich matter.