Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged-hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC
(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
- Helenius, Ilkka LU ; Paukkunen, Hannu and Eskola, Kari J.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-03-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- European Physical Journal C
- volume
- 77
- issue
- 3
- article number
- 148
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85014921216
- pmid:28344505
- wos:000400017000002
- 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
- 2025-01-07 10:15:07
@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}}, }