Accessing the shape of atomic nuclei with relativistic collisions of isobars

Understand

Nuclides sharing the same mass number (isobars) are observed ubiquitously along the stability line.

• While having nearly identical radii, stable isobars can differ in shape, and present in particular different quadrupole deformations.
• We show that even small differences in these deformations can be probed by relativistic nuclear collisions experiments, where they manifest as deviations from unity in the ratios of elliptic flow coefficients taken between isobaric systems.
• Collider experiments with isobars represent, thus, a unique means to obtain quantitative information about the geometric shape of atomic nuclei.