Probing the Neutron Skin of Unstable Nuclei with Heavy-Ion Collisions

Abstract

To improve the constraints of symmetry energy at subsaturation density, measuring and accumulating more neutron skin data for neutron-rich unstable nuclei is naturally required. Aiming to probe the neutron skin of unstable nuclei by using low-intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions, we develop a new version of an improved quantum molecular dynamics model, in which the neutron skin of the initial nucleus and the mean-field potential in nucleon propagation are consistently treated. Our calculations show that the three observables, such as the cross-sections of the primary projectile-like residues with A>100 (σA>100), the difference of σA>100 between 132Sn + 124Sn and 124Sn + 124Sn systems (δσA>100), and the neutron-to-proton yield ratio (R(n/p)) in the transverse direction, could be used to measure the neutron skin of the unstable nuclei and to constrain the slope of the symmetry energy in the future.

Keywords

• neutron skin
• unstable nuclei
• symmetry energy
• heavy ion collisions