There and Sharp Again: The Circle Journey of Nucleons and Energy Deposition

Understand

A central question in high-energy nuclear phenomenology is how the geometry of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) formed in relativistic nuclear collisions is precisely shaped.

• In our understanding of such processes, two features are especially crucial for the determination of the QGP geometry, respectively, the nucleon size and the energy deposition scheme.
• This contribution reports on the (circular) evolution of such features in state-of-the-art model incarnations of heavy-ion collisions over the past seven years.
• Ideas for future directions of investigation are pointed out.