Effects of longitudinal asymmetry in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

In collisions of identical nuclei at a given impact parameter, the number of nucleons participating in the overlap region of each nucleus can be unequal due to nuclear density fluctuations. The asymmetry due to the unequal number of participating nucleons, referred to as longitudinal asymmetry, causes a shift in the center of mass rapidity of the participant zone. The information of the event asymmetry allows us to isolate and study the effect of longitudinal asymmetry on rapidity distribution of final state particles. In a Monte Carlo Glauber model the average rapidity-shift is found to be almost linearly related to the asymmetry. Using toy models, as well as Monte Carlo data for Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV generated with HIJING, two different versions of AMPT and DPMJET models, we demonstrate that the effect of asymmetry on final state rapidity distribution can be quantitatively related to the average rapidity shift via a third-order polynomial with a dominantly linear term. The coefficients of the polynomial are proportional to the rapidity shift with the dependence being sensitive to the details of the rapidity distribution.Experimental estimates of the spectator asymmetry through the measurement of spectator nucleons in a Zero Degree Calorimeter may hence be used to further constrain the initial conditions in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions.