TY - JOUR
T1 - Neutron-skin effect in direct-photon and charged-hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC
AU - Helenius, Ilkka
AU - Paukkunen, Hannu
AU - Eskola, Kari J.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - A well-established observation in nuclear physics is that in neutron-rich spherical nuclei the distribution of neutrons extends farther than the distribution of protons. In this work, we scrutinize the influence of this so called neutron-skin effect on the centrality dependence of high-pT direct-photon and charged-hadron production. We find that due to the estimated spatial dependence of the nuclear parton distribution functions, it will be demanding to unambiguously expose the neutron-skin effect with direct photons. However, when taking a ratio between the cross sections for negatively and positively charged high-pT hadrons, even centrality-dependent nuclear-PDF effects cancel, making this observable a better handle on the neutron skin. Up to 10% effects can be expected for the most peripheral collisions in the measurable region.
AB - A well-established observation in nuclear physics is that in neutron-rich spherical nuclei the distribution of neutrons extends farther than the distribution of protons. In this work, we scrutinize the influence of this so called neutron-skin effect on the centrality dependence of high-pT direct-photon and charged-hadron production. We find that due to the estimated spatial dependence of the nuclear parton distribution functions, it will be demanding to unambiguously expose the neutron-skin effect with direct photons. However, when taking a ratio between the cross sections for negatively and positively charged high-pT hadrons, even centrality-dependent nuclear-PDF effects cancel, making this observable a better handle on the neutron skin. Up to 10% effects can be expected for the most peripheral collisions in the measurable region.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014921216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9
DO - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4709-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 28344505
AN - SCOPUS:85014921216
VL - 77
JO - European Physical Journal C. Particles and Fields
JF - European Physical Journal C. Particles and Fields
SN - 1434-6044
IS - 3
M1 - 148
ER -