A1 Journal article (refereed)
Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged-hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC (2017)
Helenius, I., Paukkunen, H., & Eskola, K. (2017). Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged-hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC. European Physical Journal C, 77(3), Article 148. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Helenius, Ilkka; Paukkunen, Hannu; Eskola, Kari
Journal or series: European Physical Journal C
ISSN: 1434-6044
eISSN: 1434-6052
Publication year: 2017
Volume: 77
Issue number: 3
Article number: 148
Publisher: Springer
Publication country: Germany
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Open Access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/53301
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 handle on the neutron skin. Up to 10% effects can be expected for the most peripheral collisions in the measurable region.
Keywords: nuclear physics
Free keywords: neutron-skin effect; charged-hadron production
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Parton distributions and QCD matter in LHC nuclear collisions
- Eskola, Kari
- Research Council of Finland
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2017
JUFO rating: 2