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Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged-hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC

Helenius, Ilkka LU ; Paukkunen, Hannu and Eskola, Kari J. (2017) In European Physical Journal C 77(3).
Abstract

A well-established observation in nuclear physics is that in neutron-rich spherical nuclei the distribution of neutrons extends farther than the distribution of protons. In this work, we scrutinize the influence of this so called neutron-skin effect on the centrality dependence of high-pT direct-photon and charged-hadron production. We find that due to the estimated spatial dependence of the nuclear parton distribution functions, it will be demanding to unambiguously expose the neutron-skin effect with direct photons. However, when taking a ratio between the cross sections for negatively and positively charged high-pT hadrons, even centrality-dependent nuclear-PDF effects cancel, making this observable a better... (More)

A well-established observation in nuclear physics is that in neutron-rich spherical nuclei the distribution of neutrons extends farther than the distribution of protons. In this work, we scrutinize the influence of this so called neutron-skin effect on the centrality dependence of high-pT direct-photon and charged-hadron production. We find that due to the estimated spatial dependence of the nuclear parton distribution functions, it will be demanding to unambiguously expose the neutron-skin effect with direct photons. However, when taking a ratio between the cross sections for negatively and positively charged high-pT hadrons, even centrality-dependent nuclear-PDF effects cancel, making this observable a better handle on the neutron skin. Up to 10% effects can be expected for the most peripheral collisions in the measurable region.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
European Physical Journal C
volume
77
issue
3
article number
148
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • pmid:28344505
  • wos:000400017000002
  • scopus:85014921216
ISSN
1434-6044
DOI
10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
032790e3-2538-4cff-bbca-0892f0ba2445
date added to LUP
2017-03-23 10:27:21
date last changed
2024-03-17 11:02:25
@article{032790e3-2538-4cff-bbca-0892f0ba2445,
  abstract     = {{<p>A well-established observation in nuclear physics is that in neutron-rich spherical nuclei the distribution of neutrons extends farther than the distribution of protons. In this work, we scrutinize the influence of this so called neutron-skin effect on the centrality dependence of high-p<sub>T</sub> direct-photon and charged-hadron production. We find that due to the estimated spatial dependence of the nuclear parton distribution functions, it will be demanding to unambiguously expose the neutron-skin effect with direct photons. However, when taking a ratio between the cross sections for negatively and positively charged high-p<sub>T</sub> hadrons, even centrality-dependent nuclear-PDF effects cancel, making this observable a better handle on the neutron skin. Up to 10% effects can be expected for the most peripheral collisions in the measurable region.</p>}},
  author       = {{Helenius, Ilkka and Paukkunen, Hannu and Eskola, Kari J.}},
  issn         = {{1434-6044}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{European Physical Journal C}},
  title        = {{Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged-hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9}},
  volume       = {{77}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}