Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions

Investigating nucleon-nucleon correlations inherent to the strong nuclear force is one of the core goals in nuclear physics research. We showcase the unique opportunities offered by collisions of 16O nuclei at high-energy facilities to reveal detailed many-body properties of the nuclear ground state...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chunjian Zhang, Jinhui Chen, Giuliano Giacalone, Shengli Huang, Jiangyong Jia, Yu-Gang Ma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Physics Letters B
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325000826
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850028178138988544
author Chunjian Zhang
Jinhui Chen
Giuliano Giacalone
Shengli Huang
Jiangyong Jia
Yu-Gang Ma
author_facet Chunjian Zhang
Jinhui Chen
Giuliano Giacalone
Shengli Huang
Jiangyong Jia
Yu-Gang Ma
author_sort Chunjian Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Investigating nucleon-nucleon correlations inherent to the strong nuclear force is one of the core goals in nuclear physics research. We showcase the unique opportunities offered by collisions of 16O nuclei at high-energy facilities to reveal detailed many-body properties of the nuclear ground state. We interface existing knowledge about the geometry of 16O coming from ab-initio calculations of nuclear structure with transport simulations of high-energy 16O+16O collisions. Bulk observables in these processes, such as the elliptic flow or the fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum, are found to depend significantly on the input nuclear model and to be sensitive to realistic clustering and short-range repulsive correlations, effectively opening a new avenue to probe these features experimentally. This finding demonstrates collisions of oxygen nuclei as a tool to elucidate initial conditions of small collision systems while fostering connections with effective field theories of nuclei rooted in quantum chromodynamics (QCD).
format Article
id doaj-art-30c60dae9bbc4c13b7b9df5c9ae6b0cc
institution DOAJ
issn 0370-2693
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Physics Letters B
spelling doaj-art-30c60dae9bbc4c13b7b9df5c9ae6b0cc2025-08-20T02:59:53ZengElsevierPhysics Letters B0370-26932025-03-0186213932210.1016/j.physletb.2025.139322Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisionsChunjian Zhang0Jinhui Chen1Giuliano Giacalone2Shengli Huang3Jiangyong Jia4Yu-Gang Ma5Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-Beam Application (MOE), and Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Research Center for Theoretical Nuclear Physics, NSFC and Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China; Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Corresponding authors.Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-Beam Application (MOE), and Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Research Center for Theoretical Nuclear Physics, NSFC and Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China; Corresponding authors.Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Corresponding authors.Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Corresponding authors.Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11976, USA; Corresponding authors.Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-Beam Application (MOE), and Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Research Center for Theoretical Nuclear Physics, NSFC and Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China; Corresponding authors.Investigating nucleon-nucleon correlations inherent to the strong nuclear force is one of the core goals in nuclear physics research. We showcase the unique opportunities offered by collisions of 16O nuclei at high-energy facilities to reveal detailed many-body properties of the nuclear ground state. We interface existing knowledge about the geometry of 16O coming from ab-initio calculations of nuclear structure with transport simulations of high-energy 16O+16O collisions. Bulk observables in these processes, such as the elliptic flow or the fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum, are found to depend significantly on the input nuclear model and to be sensitive to realistic clustering and short-range repulsive correlations, effectively opening a new avenue to probe these features experimentally. This finding demonstrates collisions of oxygen nuclei as a tool to elucidate initial conditions of small collision systems while fostering connections with effective field theories of nuclei rooted in quantum chromodynamics (QCD).http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325000826
spellingShingle Chunjian Zhang
Jinhui Chen
Giuliano Giacalone
Shengli Huang
Jiangyong Jia
Yu-Gang Ma
Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions
Physics Letters B
title Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions
title_full Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions
title_fullStr Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions
title_full_unstemmed Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions
title_short Ab-initio nucleon-nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16O+16O collisions
title_sort ab initio nucleon nucleon correlations and their impact on high energy 16o 16o collisions
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269325000826
work_keys_str_mv AT chunjianzhang abinitionucleonnucleoncorrelationsandtheirimpactonhighenergy16o16ocollisions
AT jinhuichen abinitionucleonnucleoncorrelationsandtheirimpactonhighenergy16o16ocollisions
AT giulianogiacalone abinitionucleonnucleoncorrelationsandtheirimpactonhighenergy16o16ocollisions
AT shenglihuang abinitionucleonnucleoncorrelationsandtheirimpactonhighenergy16o16ocollisions
AT jiangyongjia abinitionucleonnucleoncorrelationsandtheirimpactonhighenergy16o16ocollisions
AT yugangma abinitionucleonnucleoncorrelationsandtheirimpactonhighenergy16o16ocollisions