Constraining the neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb with anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Zhao, Xin-Li, Xie, Xin-Yi, Li, Yuan, Ma, Guo-Liang
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Zhao, Xin-Li
Xie, Xin-Yi
Li, Yuan
Ma, Guo-Liang
author_facet Zhao, Xin-Li
Xie, Xin-Yi
Li, Yuan
Ma, Guo-Liang
contents We study neutron-skin effects of $^{208}$Pb in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$~TeV using the improved string-melting version of a multi-phase transport model by varying the neutron density distribution. A systematic response is observed in both the initial eccentricities and the anisotropic flow, indicating that neutron-skin effects survive the full transport evolution of heavy-ion collisions. A $χ^2$ comparison with ALICE data favors small to moderate neutron skin, while large neutron skin is excluded. The similar descriptions provided by zero and moderate neutron skin point to a geometric degeneracy in the current anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions, where anisotropic flow is primarily driven by the overall collision geometry and size, thus lacking extreme sensitivity to the fine details of the nuclear surface profile. This highlights both sensitivity and limitation of constraining neutron-skin properties with flow measurements in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_07597
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Constraining the neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb with anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC
Zhao, Xin-Li
Xie, Xin-Yi
Li, Yuan
Ma, Guo-Liang
Nuclear Theory
Nuclear Experiment
We study neutron-skin effects of $^{208}$Pb in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$~TeV using the improved string-melting version of a multi-phase transport model by varying the neutron density distribution. A systematic response is observed in both the initial eccentricities and the anisotropic flow, indicating that neutron-skin effects survive the full transport evolution of heavy-ion collisions. A $χ^2$ comparison with ALICE data favors small to moderate neutron skin, while large neutron skin is excluded. The similar descriptions provided by zero and moderate neutron skin point to a geometric degeneracy in the current anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions, where anisotropic flow is primarily driven by the overall collision geometry and size, thus lacking extreme sensitivity to the fine details of the nuclear surface profile. This highlights both sensitivity and limitation of constraining neutron-skin properties with flow measurements in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC.
title Constraining the neutron skin of $^{208}$Pb with anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC
topic Nuclear Theory
Nuclear Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.07597