Revealing initial state properties through ultra-central symmetric heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper shows that in ultra-central symmetric heavy-ion collisions, initial state properties can be reliably inferred with minimal influence from collision dynamics, especially when considering scale-invariance and short-range correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a method combining scale-invariance and cluster expansion to analyze initial state properties, providing new insights into nuclear structure from collision data.

Findings

Initial energy density moments are unaffected by collision dynamics for large nuclei.

Isobar ratios can constrain initial state parameters and nuclear deformation.

Short-range correlations significantly influence initial density fluctuations.

Abstract

Heavy-ion experiments provide a new opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the structure of nuclei. To achieve this, it is crucial to identify observables under circumstances that are minimally affected by the process that leads to the initial state of heavy-ion collisions from nuclear wavefunction. In this study, we demonstrate that when assuming scale-invariance, the effect of this stage on the initial energy or entropy density moments in ultra-central symmetric collisions is negligible for nucleon sizes of approximately 0.7 fm or larger for large nuclei. By borrowing cluster expansion method from statistical physics and using scale-invariance assumption, we calculate the average ellipticity of initial density at the presence of short-range correlation. We compare our calculations to Monte Carlo studies and assess the accuracy of various methods of short-range correlation sampling. Additionally, we find that the isobar ratio can constrain the initial state parameters, in addition to deformation. Our study indicates that the isobar ratios in ultra-central collisions are especially sensitive to the fluctuation in the weight of the nuclei constituents and the two-body correlation among nucleons. This insight is crucial for drawing conclusions about nuclear deformations based on isobar ratios.