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 editorsHelenius, Ilkka; Paukkunen, Hannu; Eskola, Kari

Journal or seriesEuropean Physical Journal C

ISSN1434-6044

eISSN1434-6052

Publication year2017

Volume77

Issue number3

Article number148

PublisherSpringer

Publication countryGermany

Publication languageEnglish

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9

Publication open accessOpenly available

Publication channel open accessOpen 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.


Keywordsnuclear physics

Free keywordsneutron-skin effect; charged-hadron production


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Ministry reportingYes

Reporting Year2017

JUFO rating2


Last updated on 2024-08-01 at 21:42