Exploring nuclear structure with multiparticle azimuthal correlations at the LHC

Abstract

Details of the nuclear structure of 129Xe, such as the quadrupole deformation and the nuclear diffuseness, are studied by extensive measurements of anisotropic-flow-related observables in Xe–Xe collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair √ 𝑠NN = 5.44 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The results are compared with those from Pb–Pb collisions at √ 𝑠NN = 5.02 TeV for a baseline, given that the 208Pb nucleus exhibits a very weak deformation. Furthermore, comprehensive comparisons are performed with a state-of-the-art hybrid model using IP-Glasma+MUSIC+UrQMD. It is found that among various IP-Glasma+MUSIC+UrQMD calculations with different values of nuclear parameters, the one using a nuclear diffuseness parameter of 𝑎0 = 0.492 and a nuclear quadrupole deformation parameter of 𝛽2 = 0.207 provides a better description of the presented flow measurements. These studies represent the first systematic exploration of nuclear structure at TeV energies, utilizing a comprehensive set of anisotropic flow observables. The measurements serve as a critical experimental benchmark for rigorously testing the interplay between nuclear structure inputs and heavy-ion theoretical models.