Heavy-Ion Collisions as Probes of Nuclear Structure

TL;DR

This study compares model predictions with experimental data from heavy-ion collisions at RHIC to demonstrate that momentum-flow correlations are effective probes of nuclear deformation and structure.

Contribution

It introduces the first comparison of momentum-flow correlations with data to explore nuclear deformation in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Momentum-flow correlations effectively probe nuclear deformation.

Flow harmonics combined with momentum correlations reveal nuclear structure.

Model-data comparison supports using these correlations as nuclear structure probes.

Abstract

In this work, we perform a model-to-data comparison for U+U and Au+Au collisions performed at RHIC at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = $193$ GeV and $200$ GeV, using a multistage framework. Model calculations for various configurations of $^{238}$U and $^{197}$Au are used to compare with measurements of $\rho(v_n\{2\}^2,\left\langle p_T \right\rangle)$, the elliptic-flow-momentum correlator, for the first time. It is found that momentum-flow correlations measured in high-energy nuclear collisions, combined with the flow harmonics themselves, are excellent probes of nuclear deformation and of nuclear structure in general.