Signatures of α clustering in light nuclei from relativistic nuclear collisions

We argue that relativistic nuclear collisions may provide experimental evidence of α clustering in light nuclei. A light α-clustered nucleus has a large intrinsic deformation. When collided against a heavy nucleus at very high energies, this deformation transforms into the deformation of the fireball in the transverse plane. The subsequent collective evolution of the fireball leads to harmonic flow reflecting the deformation of the initial shape, which can be measured with standard methods of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We illustrate the feasibility of the idea by modeling the (12)C-(208)Pb collisions and point out that very significant quantitative and qualitative differences between the α-clustered and uniform (12)C nucleus occur in such quantities as the triangular flow, its event-by-event fluctuations, or the correlations of the elliptic and triangular flows. The proposal offers a possibility of studying low-energy nuclear structure phenomena with "snapshots" made with relativistic heavy-ion collisions.