Investigating the symmetry energy of nuclear equation of state with heavy-ion reactions

Abstract

Heavy-ion collisions provide a unique opportunity to examine nuclear matter at temperatures, densities, and neutron-to-proton (N/Z) ratios away from that of ground state nuclei. A wide range of observables from heavy-ion collisions has been used to study and constrain the nuclear equation of state (EOS). Recently much work has been focused on the symmetry energy of the EOS. The transverse collective flow of light charged particles and intermediate mass fragments is sensitive to the fragmentation mechanism and – in particular – the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. The present work demonstrates the impact of the N/Z of the system on the transverse flow of LCPs and IMFs from the reactions 70Zn + 70Zn, 64Zn +64Zn, and 64Ni + 64Ni at 35 Mev/nucleon. The IMF flow is consistent with a "stiff" equation of state as implemented in the AMD model.