Anisotropic Flow in Fixed-Target ^{208}Pb+^{20}Ne Collisions as a Probe of Quark-Gluon Plasma

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• High-Energy Physics
• Quantum Chromodynamics

Background:

• The LHCb detector's System for Measuring Overlap with Gas (SMOG2) facilitates fixed-target ion-ion collisions at relativistic energies.
• Understanding quark-gluon plasma (QGP) and nuclear structure is crucial in high-energy physics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compute hydrodynamic predictions for Pb+Ne and Pb+O collisions using ab initio calculations.
• To investigate the impact of nuclear shapes, specifically the deformed ^{20}Ne nucleus, on anisotropic flow.
• To enable experimental tests of predicted nuclear shapes and study QGP formation at LHCb.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing 3+1D hydrodynamic models to predict anisotropic flow.
• Incorporating ab initio calculations of ^{16}O and ^{20}Ne nuclear structures.
• Analyzing Pb+Ne and Pb+O collisions within the SMOG2 fixed-target setup at LHCb.

Main Results:

• Pb+Ne collisions exhibit significantly enhanced elliptic flow (v_{2}) compared to Pb+O due to the "bowling-pin" shape of ^{20}Ne.
• This enhancement is observed over a broad centrality range due to the large ^{208}Pb radius.
• Increased elliptic flow in Pb+Ne collisions nonlinearly enhances quadrangular flow (v_{4}) and affects the kurtosis (c_{2}{4}).

Conclusions:

• The deformed shape of ^{20}Ne provides an ideal method to probe QGP formation in LHCb fixed-target experiments.
• SMOG2 serves as a powerful tool for imaging nuclear ground states.
• These findings pave the way for detailed studies of QGP and nuclear structure using upcoming LHCb data.