Determine the neutron skin type by relativistic isobaric collisions

Abstract

The effects of neutron skin on the multiplicity (Nch) and eccentricity (ϵ2) in relativistic 4496Ru+4496Ru and 4096Zr+4096Zr collisions at sNN=200 GeV are investigated with the Trento model. It is found that the Ru+Ru/Zr+Zr ratios of the Nch distributions and ϵ2 in mid-central collisions are exquisitely sensitive to the neutron skin type (skin vs. halo). The state-of-the-art calculations by energy density functional theory (DFT) favor the halo-type neutron skin and can soon be confronted by experimental data. It is demonstrated that the halo-type density can serve as a good surrogate for the DFT density, and thus can be efficiently employed to probe nuclear deformities by using elliptic flow data in central collisions. We provide hereby a proof-of-principle venue to simultaneously determine the neutron skin type, thickness, and nuclear deformity.