Anisotropic flow fluctuation as a possible signature of clustered nuclear geometry in O-O collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

Understand

Nuclei having $4n$ number of nucleons are theorized to possess clusters of $\alpha$ particles ($^4$He nucleus).

• The Oxygen nucleus ($^{16}$O) is a doubly magic nucleus, where the presence of an $\alpha$-clustered nuclear structure grants additional nuclear stability.
• In this study, we exploit the anisotropic flow coefficients to discern the effects of an $\alpha$-clustered nuclear geometry with respect to a Woods-Saxon nuclear distribution in O--O collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=7$ TeV using a hybrid of IP-Glasma + MUSIC + iSS + UrQMD models.
• In addition, we use the multi-particle cumulants method to measure anisotropic flow coefficients, such as elliptic flow ($v_{2}$) and triangular flow ($v_{3}$), as a function of multiplicity class.