Search

Using the Li\`{e}ge intranuclear-cascade model together with the ablation model ABLA, an investigation is conducted into the effects of $\Lambda$ potential in $\Lambda$-nucleus and $\Lambda$-hypernucleus-nucleus collisions across various beam energies. The findings show that the angle and transverse-momentum distributions of scattered $\Lambda$ hyperon, the scattering cross section of the $\Lambda$ hyperon in $\Lambda$-nucleus collisions as well as the rapidity distribution of $\Lambda$ hyperon in $\Lambda$-hypernucleus-nucleus collisions are significantly influenced by the strength of the $\Lambda$ potential in these scattering reactions across various beam energies. These demonstrations, unhindered by the uncertainties of $\Lambda$ and hypernuclei productions in nuclear medium, allow for a direct investigation of the $\Lambda$ potential, especially its momentum dependence. The criticality of probing the $\Lambda$ potential is closely associated with the resolution of the "hyperon puzzle" in neutron stars., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Feasibility literature with experiments added. PLB in production

We introduce a parton and hadron cascade model PACIAE 3.0 based on PYTHIA 6.428 and the PACIAE 2.2 program series. The simulation framework of C-, B-, and A-loops are designed for the high energy ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}\geq 3$ GeV) and low energy ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}<3$ GeV) nuclear collisions, respectively, in PACIAE 3.0. In the C-loop simulation, the parton-parton inelastic scattering processes are added in the partonic rescattering process. The single string structure and multiple string interaction mechanism have been introduced investigating the strangeness enhancement in C- and B-loop. An improved mapping relation between the centrality percentage definition and the impact parameter definition is proposed responding the observation of $b_{max}\approx 20$ fm from ALICE, ATLAS, and CMS collaborations. We have extensively modified the phenomenological coalescence hadronization model. The PACIAE 3.0 model simulated results of particle yield, transverse momentum distribution, and rapidity distribution well reproduce, respectively, the experimental data measured at FOPI, E895, RHIC, and LHC energies., Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures

Based on a dynamical model on particle production, the production and fraction of exotic components in neutron star matter are analyzed. It is found that there exists a small fraction of strangeness in twice saturation density matter. For five times saturation density matter, the fraction of strange baryons can be as high as 25-50\%, depending on the equation of state used. The neutron-proton asymmetry of dense matter does not significantly impact the strangeness fraction in neutron star matter. This research provides new insights into the strange components in neutron stars., Comment: Physical Review D - Letter, in production

The production of doubly strange hyperon $\Xi^-$ and trebly strange hyperon $\Omega^-$ in relativistic Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 4.2 GeV is explored based on a relativistic transport model that is interweaved with hadronic mean-field potentials for heavy-ion collisions. Upon comparison, it appears that relative to the double strangeness observable $\Xi^-$, the yield and collective flows of the triple strange $\Omega^-$ exhibit a higher sensitivity to the equation of state (EoS) of dense matter. This characteristic makes the $\Omega^-$ an essential observable for studying the properties of densely formed matter in relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, PRC in production

Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, we investigate the hard photons emission from neutron-proton bremsstrahlung in reaction system of $^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb$ around Fermi energy. Effects of neutron skins in coordinate ($r$) space and proton skins in momentum ($k$) space on the time evolution, the angular distribution, and the transverse momentum spectra of hard photons with different energies are studied. It is shown that the emission of direct hard photons is sensitive to the neutron skin, which has larger effects for more energetic hard photons. Meanwhile, we find that the proton skins have an important influence on the emission of direct hard photons, and its effect is actually even larger than that of neutron skins. It needs to take the effect of proton skins into account when we determine the size of neutron skins by comparing transport mode predictions of hard photons with the corresponding experiment measurements.

In the standard model of particle physics, the strong force is characterized by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). It is commonly understood from QCD properties that hadrons, at sufficiently high temperatures or densities, melt into their constituent quarks, thereby undergoing a deconfinement transition to a new phase of quarks and gluons, often referred to as quark matter or quark-gluon plasma (QGP) \cite{qcd00,qcd01}. Although QGP has been observed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions \cite{qgp1,qgp2}, uncertainties remain about when the onset of deconfinement occurs. After comparing simulations from a reliable hadron and quark relativistic transport model with recent data from the STAR experiment, we determined that the onset of the hadron-quark phase transition occurs at about five times nuclear compression, corresponding to temperature $T\sim$ 112 MeV and baryon chemical potential $\mu_{B}\sim$ 586 MeV, in the nuclear matter phase diagram. This discovery has significant implications for the studies of both the early and present universe \cite{ann2006}, including the fraction of dark matter formed in the early universe \cite{bhd2016,bhf1997,pbh20} and the structure and dynamics of neutron stars and their mergers \cite{nature2020}., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted by PLB

Based on a multi-phase transport model for relativistic heavy-ion collisions, effects of the parton scatterings on the production of strangeness in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are studied. It is found that the distributions of strange quark and strange baryon, especially for the double strangeness $\Xi^{-}$, are significantly affected by the parton scatterings in heavy-ion collisions below $\sqrt{s_{NN}}\sim$ 10 GeV. Given parton scatterings as a signal of the formation of quark matter, the transverse momentum distribution of the ratio of single and double strangeness $(\Lambda+\Sigma^{0})/\Xi^{-}$ produced in heavy-ion collisions may serve as a potential probe of the emergence of quark matter, or equivalently, the occurrence of hadron-quark phase transition in relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Physics Letters B, in production

Based on the extended hadronic transport model of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the incompressibility of dense hadronic matter created in relativistic Au+Au heavy-ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3$ GeV is studied. By comparing experimental proton directed flow, productions of strange hadrons $\phi$, $K^{-}$ as well as their ratio $\phi/K^{-}$, proton high-order cumulants to the model calculations, a large incompressibility of dense hadronic matter is obtained from nucleon observabels while a rather small incompressibility is needed to fit the data of strange hadrons. This may indicate hadronic matter possesses different incompressibilities in different density regions, i.e., the incompressibility may become stiffer from saturation density to a certain baryon density and then turn to soft before reaching hadron-quark phase transition. The study also shows that the incompressibility significantly affects the critical baryon density of hadron-quark phase transition., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PRC, in production

Within a transport model coupled with a microscopic coalescence model, the directed and elliptic flows of protons and deuterons as well as their scalling properties are studied in the centrality of 20-30% Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.4$ GeV. It is found that the flows as well as their scaling properties simulated with the isospin- and momentum-dependent nuclear mean field with an incompressibility $K_{0}=230$ MeV fit fairly the HADES data, while those simulated with the commonly used momentum-independent nuclear mean field with an incompressibility $K_{0}=380$ MeV can only fit partially the HADES data. Moreover, by checking the rapidity distributions of both protons and deuterons in the centrality of 0-10% Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.4$ GeV, we find that the rapidity distributions of deuterons are underestimated while those of protons are overestimated by the simulations with the momentum-independent nuclear mean field. In contrast, the rapidity distributions of both protons and deuterons simulated with the isospin- and momentum-dependent nuclear mean field are in good agreement with the HADES data. Our findings imply that the momentum dependence of nuclear mean field is an unavoidable feature for a fundamental understanding of nuclear matter properties and for the successful interpretation of the HADES data., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Physics Letters B

Based on the transport model isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck coupled with a phase-space coalescence afterburner, we studied the effects of the high-momentum tail (HMT) of nucleon momentum distribution in initialization in 197Au+197Au reactions at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon with different impact parameters.We found remarkable impact parameter-dependent HMT effects on the fragment multiplicity distribution. The average neutron to proton ratio of produced isotopes is also affected by the HMT. The rapidity distributions of triton and 3He and their elliptic flows are all evidently affected by the HMT. All the effects of the HMT on the cluster production in heavy-ion collisions are centrality dependent., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

We demonstrate the consistency of the quark deconfinement phase transition parameters in the beta-stable neutron star matter and in the nearly symmetric nuclear matter formed in heavy-ion collisions (HICs). We investigate the proton and $\Lambda$ flow in Au+Au collisions at 3 and 4.5 GeV/nucleon incident beam energies with the pure hadron cascade version of a multi-phase transport model. The phase transition in HICs and neutron stars is described based on a class of hybrid equations of state from the quark mean-field model for the hadronic phase and a constant-speed-of-sound parametrization for the high-density quark phase. The measurements of the anisotropic proton flow at 3 GeV/nucleon by the STAR collaboration favor a relatively low phase transition density lower than $\sim 2.5$ times saturation density indicated by the gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations of neutron stars. And the proton flow data at the higher energy of 4.5 GeV/nucleon can be used to effectively constrain the softness of high-density quark matter equations of state. Finally, compared to the proton flow, the $\Lambda$ flow is found to be less sensitive and not constraining to the equations of state., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, Phys. Rev. D (2023) accepted

A concept of \emph{isospin blocking} in the process of isospin diffusion in heavy-ion collisions is raised. Generally, in the process of isospin diffusion, isospin asymmetry would diffuse from the place with large asymmetry to the place with small asymmetry. However, our study shows that the isospin diffusion could be blocked in case the local value of the symmetry energy is larger. We dub this phenomenon ``isospin blocking''. To check this behavior, in the framework of an Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, isospin diffusions in the isotope Sn+Sn reactions at 270 MeV/nucleon are studied. It is shown that the value of the after-diffusion asymmetry is distinctly blocked if the local symmetry energy is large. The effects of the isospin blocking on the isospin asymmetry of dilute and dense matter and the final $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio in heavy ion collisions are demonstrated., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, PRC-Letter in production

In terrestrial laboratory with existing accelerators, the maximum multinucleon system produced so far is limited to that with total nucleon number being less than the sum of two colliding nuclei. Such situation may hinder our studies on the properties of nuclear many-body system. Here a way of producing large multinucleon system via multi-nucleus collision device Collider Plus in terrestrial laboratory is proposed. It is shown that large chunk of nucleonic matter can be produced through nuclear ternary fusion reactions at lower beam energies and also large block of dense matter can be formed via ternary collisions of heavy nuclei at intermediate energies. These investigations may shed lights on the studies of the synthesis of superheavy elements and the properties of bulk superdense nuclear matter., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Phys. Lett. B, in production

Recent beam energy scan (BES) experiments at RHIC by the STAR Collaboration (PLB {\bf 827},137003 (2022) and PRL {\bf 128}, 202303 (2022)) found that hadronic interactions dominate the collective flow and the proton cumulant ratios are driven by baryon number conservation in a region of high baryon density in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3 GeV Au+Au reactions, indicating the dense medium formed in such collisions is likely hadronic matter. Within an updated ART (A Relativistic Transport) model with momentum dependent isoscalar and isovector single-nucleon mean-field potentials corresponding to different symmetry energies at suprasaturation densities, the $n/p$, $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$, $K_{s}^{0}/K^{+}$, $\Sigma^{-}/\Sigma^{+}$ and $\Xi^{-}/\Xi^{0}$ ratios are studied for central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3 GeV where the maximum central density reaches about $(3.6\sim 4.0)\rho_0$. The doubly strange $\Xi^{-}/\Xi^{0}$ ratio is found to have the strongest sensitivity to the variation of high-density nuclear symmetry energy. Thus, the $\Xi^{-}/\Xi^{0}$ ratio in relativistic heavy-ion reactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} \sim 3$ GeV may help probe sensitively the poorly known symmetry energy of dense neutron-rich matter critically important for understanding various properties of neutron stars., Comment: With minor revisions. Phys. Rev. C in press

For more than half a century, nucleons are considered to move continuously in the nuclei. Recent electron-scattering experiments indicate about 20$\sim$25\% nucleons in heavier nuclei are involved in the neutron-proton short-range correlations. Nucleons in the nuclei thus have abnormal behavior unlike those in the non-interaction fermi gas. In the neutron-rich nuclei, around the Fermi momentum, the neutron-proton short-range correlations lead to a momentum gap in the proton momentum distribution, which is circumstantially supported by the pionic experimental data. Likewise, there should also be a neutron momentum gap in the proton-rich nuclei. Nucleon momentum gap is thought to have profound and extensive implications in the studies ranging from particle physics to neutron stars as well as ultra-cold atomic gases., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We study the quiescent luminosities of accreting neutron stars by a new mechanism as neutrino heating for additional deep crustal heating, where the neutrino heating is produced by charged pions decay from the nuclear collisions on the surface of neutron star during its active accretion. For low mass neutron star($\lesssim1.4~M_{\odot}$), as the neutrino heating is little($\lesssim1$ MeV per accreted nucleon) or there would be no neutrino heating, the quiescent luminsoity will be not affected or slightly affected. While for massive neutron star ($\gtrsim2~M_{\odot}$), the quiescent luminosity will be enhanced more obviously with neutrino heating in the range 2-6 MeV per accreted nucleon. The observations on cold neutron stars such as 1H 19605+00, SAX J1808.4-3658 can be explained with neutrino heating if a fast cooling and heavy elements surface are considered. The observations on a hot neutron star such as RX J0812.4-3114 can be explained with neutrino heating if the direct Urca process is forbidden for a massive star with light elements surface, which is different from the previous work that the hot observations should be explained with small mass neutron star and the effect of superfluidity., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

The short-range correlation (SRC) induced by the tensor force in the isosinglet neutron-proton interaction channel leads to a high-momentum tail (HMT) in the single-nucleon momentum distributions n(k) in nuclei. Owing to the remaining uncertainties about the tensor force, the shape of the nucleon HMT may be significantly different from the dilute interacting Fermi gas model prediction $n(k) \sim1/k^4$ similar to the HMT in cold atoms near the unitary limit. Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model incorporating approximately the nucleon HMT, we investigate hard photon emissions in $^{14}$N+$^{12}$C and $^{48}$Ca+$^{124}$Sn reactions at beam energies around the Fermi energy. Imprints of different shapes of the HMT on the energy spectrum, angular distribution and transverse momentum spectrum of hard photons are studied. While the angular distribution does not carry any information about the shape of the nucleon HMT, the energy spectra and especially the mid-rapidity transverse momentum spectra of hard photons are found to bare strong imprints of the shapes of nucleon HMTs in the two colliding nuclei., Comment: More discussions added. Physical Review C in press

Double strangeness $\Xi^{-}$ production in Au+Au collisions at 2, 4, and 6 GeV/nucleon incident beam energies is studied with the pure hadron cascade version of a multi-phase transport model. It is found that due to larger nuclear compression, the model with the soft equation of state (EoS) gives larger yields of both single strangeness ($K^{+}$ and $\Lambda+\Sigma^{0}$) and double strangeness $\Xi^{-}$. The sensitivity of the double strangeness $\Xi^{-}$ to the EoS is evidently larger than that of $K^{+}$ or $\Lambda+\Sigma^{0}$ since the phase-space distribution of produced $\Xi^{-}$ is more compact compared to those of the single strangeness. The larger sensitivity of the yields ratio of $\Xi^{-}$ to the EoS from heavy and light systems is kept compared to that of the single strangeness. The study of $\Xi^{-}$ production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions provides an alternative for the ongoing heavy-ion collision program at facilities worldwide for identifying the EoS at high densities, which is relevant to the investigation of the phase boundary and onset of deconfinement of dense nuclear matter., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, PLB, in production

With the improved particular Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model (impIBUU) including the nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations, the ratios and yields of $\pi^{-}$ and $\pi^{+}$ in Sn+Sn systems with different asymmetries at 270 MeV/nucleon are studied. It is found that the yields of $\pi^{-}$ and $\pi^{+}$ and their ratios in Sn+Sn systems characterized by different neutron to proton ratios obtained from the very recent S$\pi$RIT pion data, are quite well described by the model, especially when a soft symmetry energy with $L(\rho_{0})$ = 66.75$\pm$24.75 MeV is used. The calculations also clearly demonstrate that the high-momentum tail of the nucleon initialization in momentum space strongly affects the yields and ratios of pion production in Sn+Sn systems with different asymmetries near or below threshold. In addition, given many insoluble theoretical uncertainties in transport models, multi-system experimental measurements with various N/Z asymmetries are proposed to extract the symmetry energy less model-dependently by using heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, PRC in production

Based on the relativistic transport model ART with the hadronic equation of state extended to have a phase transition via the use of the MIT bag model, properties of phase transition of dense nuclear matter formed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are investigated. Proton sideward and directed flows are calculated with different equation of states in Au + Au collisions at beam energies of 2, 4, 6 and 8 GeV/nucleon. Compared with AGS experimental data in existence, the boundary of first-order phase transition is roughly confined, i.e., in the range of 2.5-4 times saturation density with temperature about 64-94 MeV. Such constraints are useful for ongoing RHIC Beam Energy Scan-II program to study the QCD matter phase diagram., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

Based on the isospin dependent transport model IBUU, the pion production and its absorption are thoroughly studied in the central collision of $Au+Au$ at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. It is found that the pions are firstly produced by the hard $\Delta$ decay at the average density around $1.75\rho_{0}$, whereas about 18\% of them are absorbed absolutely in the subsequent inelastic collisions. For the free pions observed, more than half of them have been scattered for one or more times before they are free from matter. And the more scattering numbers of pions, the higher the momentum they possess. These pions, due to longer time of their existence in high density nuclear matter, carry more information about the symmetry energy of the nuclear matter at high densities., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures

The nuclear symmetry energy, which describes the energy difference of per proton and neutron in nuclear matter, has been extensively studied within the last two decades. Around saturation density, both the value and the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy have been roughly constrained, its high-density behavior is now still in argument. Probing high-density symmetry energy at terrestrial laboratories is being carried out at facilities that offer radioactive beams worldwide. While relevant experiments are being conducted, we theoretically developed more advanced isospin-dependent transport model including new physics such as nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations and in-medium isospin-dependence of baryon-baryon scattering cross section. New sensitive probes of high-density symmetry energy are provided, such as squeezed-out neutron to proton ratio, photon and light cluster as well as the production of mesons with strangeness or hidden strangeness. The blind spots of probing the high-density symmetry energy by sensitive observable are demonstrated. Model dependence of frequently used sensitive probes of the symmetry energy has been studied thoroughly based on different transport models. A qualitative observable of neutron to proton ratio at high emitting energy is proposed to probe the high-density symmetry energy qualitatively. The probed density regions of the symmetry energy are carefully studied. Effects of nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations on the some sensitive observables of the symmetry energy in heavy-ion collisions are explored carefully. Probing the curvature of the symmetry energy by involving the slope information of the symmetry energy at saturation point in the transport model is proposed., Comment: 13 pages, 25 figures

Based on the Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, the in-medium nucleon-nucleon inelastic scattering ( which is dominated by pion production at low and intermediate energies) is explored. It is found that the in-medium modification of nucleon-nucleon inelastic scatterings appears to reduce the neutron to proton ratio n/p at higher kinetic energies. Although the in-medium modification of nucleon-nucleon inelastic scatterings, as expected, affects the value of $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio, considering a series of undetermined properties of delta resonance and $\pi$ in medium, the energetic neutron to proton ratio n/p is more suitable to be used to probe the in-medium correction of nucleon-nucleon inelastic scatterings., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, PRC in production

Based on the Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, the isotope Sn+Sn reactions at 270 MeV/nucleon are investigated. It is shown that nucleon and meson observables in the Sn+Sn reactions at 270 MeV/nucleon cannot effectively probe the high-density symmetry energy. These observables, however, are sensitive to the curvature of the symmetry energy. It thus sheds light on the study of the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy by extracting the curvature of the symmetry energy through the interpretation of forthcoming RIBF/RIKEN related data., Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures

In the framework of the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, nuclear bubble configuration in the hypothetical $^{48}$Si nucleus is studied by proton induced central reaction at an incident beam energy of 0.8 GeV/nucleon. It is found that along the beam direction more energetic protons are emitted with bubble configuration in the target. In the forward angles, compared with the case without bubble configuration, less scattered energetic protons are emitted with bubble configuration in the target. We thus provide a new way to probe the bubble configuration in nuclei., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PRC, Rapid Communication

By involving the constraints of the slope of nuclear symmetry energy $L$ into the question of determination of the high-density symmetry energy, one needs to probe the curvature of nuclear symmetry energy $K_{\rm{sym}}$. Based on the Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, effects of the curvature of nuclear symmetry energy on the squeezed-out nucleons are demonstrated in the semi-central Au+Au reaction at 400 and 600 MeV/nucleon. It is shown that the squeezed-out isospin-dependent nucleon emissions at high transverse momenta are sensitive to the curvature of nuclear symmetry energy. The curvature of nuclear symmetry energy at saturation density thus can be determined by the high momentum squeezed-out isospin-dependent nucleon emissions experiments from the semi-central Au+Au reaction at 400 or 600 MeV/nucleon., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Physical Review C, in press

The nuclear symmetry energy, especially at suprasaturation densities, plays crucial roles in many astrophysical studies. However, nowadays the high-density behavior of the symmetry energy is still very controversial in nuclear community. To constrain the high-density behavior of the symmetry energy, neutron-rich nuclei collisions at medium energies are considered to be one of the most effective methods. While probing the high-density symmetry energy by using heavy-ion collisions, blind spots may exist. In the framework of the Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, the blind spots of probing the high-density symmetry energy by the n/p ratio in the central Au+Au reaction at 300 MeV/nucleon are demonstrated. It is found that the nucleon observable neutron to proton ratio n/p in heavy-ion collisions cannot effectively probe the high-density symmetry energy when the high-density symmetry energy is less density-dependent., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted by PLB

The proposed protophobic fifth force in \emph{Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf \emph{117}}, 071803 (2016)} recently attracts much attention. To confirm or refute the existence of this new interaction, here I propose a method to probe the protophobic fifth force in dense matter that formed in nucleus-nucleus collisions. As expected, the protophobic fifth force has negligible effects on the usual observables in nucleus-nucleus collisions. While the protophobic fifth force evidently affects the value of final positively and negatively charged pions ratio at very high kinetic energies. The signal thus could be used to probe the protophobic fifth force in dense matter by nucleus-nucleus collisions' experiments at current experimental equipments worldwide., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

Based on the Isospin-dependent transport model Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU), effects of the difference of the high momentum tails (HMTs) of nucleon momentum distribution in colliding nuclei on some isospin-sensitive observables are studied in the $^{197}\rm {Au}+^{197}\rm {Au}$ reactions at incident beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. It is found that the nucleon transverse and elliptic flows, the free neutron to proton ratio at low momenta are all less sensitive to the specific form of the HMT, while the free neutron to proton ratio at high momenta and the yields of $\pi^{-}$ and $\pi^{+}$ as well as the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio around the Coulomb peak are sensitive to the specific form of the HMT. Combining the present studies with the experimental measurements at rare-isotope reaction facilities worldwide, one may get more insights into the nuclear short-range correlations in heavy nuclei or nuclear matter., Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, accepted by PRC

In this article we investigate the beam energy dependence of relativistic retardation effects of electrical fields on the single and double $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratios in three heavy-ion reactions with an isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model IBUU11. With the beam energy increasing from 200 to 400 MeV/nucleon, effects of the relativistically retarded electrical fields on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio are found to increase gradually from negligibly to considerably significant as expectedly; it is however, the interesting observation is the relativistic retardation effects of electrical fields on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio are becoming gradually insignificant as the beam energy further increasing from 400 to 800 MeV/nucleon. Moreover, we also investigate the isospin dependence of relativistic retardation effects of electrical fields on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio in two isobar reaction systems of $^{96}$Ru+$^{96}$Ru and $^{96}$Zr+$^{96}$Zr at the beam energies from 200 to 800 MeV/nucleon. It is shown that the relativistic retardation effects of electrical fields on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio are independent of the isospin of reaction. Furthermore, we also examine the double $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio in reactions of $^{96}$Zr+$^{96}$Zr over $^{96}$Ru+$^{96}$Ru at the beam energies from 200 to 800 MeV/nucleon with the static field and retarded field, respectively. It is shown the double $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio from two reactions is still an effective observable of symmetry energy without the interference of electrical field due to using the relativistic calculation compared to the nonrelativistic calculation., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Abbreviated abstract to meet the criterion of arXiv platform. Accepted for publication in Physical Review C. An extended but necessary complementary study to arXiv:1709.09127

In the framework of the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, sensitive regions of some nucleon observables to the nuclear symmetry energy are studied. It is found that the symmetry energy sensitive observable n/p ratio in the $^{132}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn reaction at 0.3 GeV/nucleon in fact just probes the density-dependent symmetry energy below the density of $1.5\rho_0$ and effectively probes the density-dependent symmetry energy around or somewhat below the saturation density. Nucleon elliptic flow can probe the symmetry energy from the low-density region to the high-density region when changing the incident beam energies from 0.3 to 0.6 GeV/nucleon in the semi-central $^{132}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn reaction. And nucleon transverse and elliptic flows in the semi-central $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au reaction at 0.6 GeV/nucleon are more sensitive to the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy. One thus concludes that nucleon observables in the heavy reaction system and with higher incident beam energy are more suitable to be used to probe the high-density behavior of the symmetry energy. The present study may help one to get more specific information about the density-dependent symmetry energy from nucleon flow observable in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

Around the nuclear Fermi momentum, there is a transition of nucleon momentum distribution n(k) in nuclear matter, i.e., from a constant to the $1/k^{4}$ nucleon momentum distribution. While nowadays the transition momentum of minority in asymmetric matter is rarely studied and thus undetermined. In the framework of the IBUU transport model, proton transition momentum in nuclei is first studied. It is found that the transition momentum of proton is sensitive to the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio as well as the energetic photon production in neutron-rich nuclear reaction. This result may push the study of how the proton momentum is distributed in neutron-rich matter forward and help us to better understand the dynamics of both neutron-rich nuclear reactions and neutron stars., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

Within the isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model IBUU11, we examine the relativistic retardation effects of electrical fields on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio and neutron-proton differential transverse flow in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. Compared to the static Coulomb fields, the retarded electric fields of fast-moving charges are known to be anisotropic and the associated relativistic corrections can be significant. They are found to increase the number of energetic protons in the participant region at the maximum compression by as much as 25\% but that of energetic neutrons by less than 10\% in $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au reactions at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. Consequently, more $\pi^{+}$ and relatively less $\pi^{-}$ mesons are produced, leading to an appreciable reduction of the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio compared to calculations with the static Coulomb fields. Also, the neutron-proton differential transverse flow, as another sensitive probe of high-density symmetry energy, is also decreased appreciably due to the stronger retarded electrical fields in directions perpendicular to the velocities of fast-moving charges compared to calculations using the isotropic static electrical fields. Moreover, the retardation effects on these observables are found to be approximately independent of the reaction impact parameter., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model for nuclear reactions at intermediate energies, we investigate the interplay of the nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations (SRC) and nuclear symmetry energy $E_{sym}(\rho)$ on hard photon spectra in collisions of several Ca isotopes on $^{112}$Sn and $^{124}$Sn targets at a beam energy of 45 MeV/nucleon. It is found that over the whole spectra of hard photons studied, effects of the SRC overwhelm those due to the $E_{sym}(\rho)$. The energetic photons come mostly from the high-momentum tails (HMT) of single-nucleon momentum distributions in the target and projectile. Within the neutron-proton dominance model of SRC based on the consideration that the tensor force acts mostly in the isosinglet and spin-triplet nucleon-nucleon interaction channel, there are equal numbers of neutrons and protons, thus a zero isospin-asymmetry in the HMTs. Therefore, experimental measurements of the energetic photons from heavy-ion collisions at Fermi energies have the great potential to help us better understand the nature of SRC without any appreciable influence by the uncertain $E_{sym}(\rho)$. These measurements will be complementary to but also have some advantages over the ongoing and planned experiments using hadronic messengers from reactions induced by high-energy electrons or protons. Since the underlying physics of SRC and $E_{sym}(\rho)$ are closely correlated, a better understanding of the SRC will in turn help constrain the nuclear symmetry energy more precisely in a broad density range., Comment: Version appeared in PRC

Pion production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at intermediate energies was modeled in the framework of the Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model. The effects of nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations in initialization and mean-field potential, isospin-dependent in-medium baryon-baryon elastic and inelastic cross sections and pion in-medium effect are all considered in this model. It is found that the ratio and yields of $\pi^{-}$and $\pi^{+}$ in Au+Au reaction at 400 MeV/nucleon reproduce the FOPI/GSI data very well especially with a soft symmetry energy in the present transport model. Predictions on the single and double $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio are made for the isotope reaction systems $^{132}\rm {Sn}+^{124}\rm {Sn}$ and $^{108}\rm {Sn}+^{112}\rm {Sn}$ at 300 MeV/nucleon since related experiments are being carried out at RIKEN/Japan., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted version of PRC

The studies, from several independent methods, consistently show that $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio in the $^{132}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn reaction at 300 MeV/nucleon, which is being carried out at Radioactive Isotope Beam Facility (RIBF) in Japan, just probes the symmetry energy around saturation density., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics

Based on the recently updated Isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU) transport model, we studied the effects of symmetry energy on the neutron to proton n/p ratio and the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio in central $^{132}\rm {Sn}+^{124}\rm {Sn}$ reaction at 300 MeV/nucleon. It is found that the n/p ratio and the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio in central $^{132}\rm {Sn}+^{124}\rm {Sn}$ reaction at 300 MeV/nucleon mainly probe the symmetry energy in the density region 1-1.5 times saturation density. However, the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio may be able to probe the density-dependent symmetry energy above 1.5 times saturation density by making some kinematic restrictions such as the azimuthal angle and kinetic energy cuts of emitting pions., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted version of PRC

Based on the Isospin-dependent transport model Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (IBUU), effects of the high momentum tail (HMT) of nucleon momentum distribution in colliding nuclei on some isospin-sensitive observables are studied in the semi-central $^{197}\rm {Au}+^{197}\rm {Au}$ reactions at incident beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. It is found that the nucleon transverse flow, the difference of neutron and proton transverse flows, the nucleon elliptic flow and free neutron to proton ratio are all less sensitive to the HMT, while the isospin-sensitive nucleon elliptic flow difference is clearly affected by the HMT. Except at very high kinetic energies, the kinetic energy distributions of $\pi^{-}$, $\pi^{+}$ and charged pion ratio $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ are all sensitive to the HMT., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Eur. Phys. J. A

It is theoretically and experimentally argued that there may exist bubble or toroid-shaped configurations in some nucleus systems. Based on the nuclear transport model, it is shown that compared with the collision of normal nuclei, there is a depletion of central density of compression with bubble configurations in projectile and target nuclei. This depletion of central compression density may affect some observables in heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted by European Physical Journal A

It is generally considered that an atomic nucleus is always compact. Based on the isospin-dependent Boltzmann nuclear transport model, here I show that large block nuclear matter or excited nuclear matter may both be hollow. And the size of inner bubble in these matter is affected by the charge number of nuclear matter. Existence of hollow nuclear matter may have many implications in nuclear or atomic physics or astrophysics as well as some practical applications., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, PRC, in production

Based on the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck(IBUU) transport model, effects of $\Delta$ resonance potential on the free n/p and $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratios in the central collision of $^{197}Au+^{197}Au$ at beam energies of 200 and 400 MeV/A are studied. It is found that the effect of $\Delta$ potential on the ratio of pre-equilibrium free $n/p$ is invisible. The effect of $\Delta$ isovector potential on the kinetic energy integrating ratio of $\pi^-/\pi^+$ may be observable only at lower incident beam energies and with stiffer symmetry energy. The strength of the $\Delta$ isoscalar potential affects the height of the $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio around the Coulomb peak but does not affect the kinetic energy integrating ratio of $\pi^-/\pi^+$. In heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies, relating to the question of non-conservation of energy on $\Delta$ or $\pi$ productions, one can replace the $\Delta$ potential by nucleon isoscalar potential especially a soft symmetry energy is employed., Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, revised version, accepted by PRC

The nuclear symmetry energy determines the birth of neutron stars and the elementary nucleosynthesis in the universe. To constrain the nuclear symmetry energy, besides the studies in astrophysics, many terrestrial nuclear experiments are being carried out using a wide variety of advanced new facilities. In this paper, by cross-checking two unrelated experimental measurements using the newly updated transport model, we obtained a slightly soft symmetry energy at supra-saturation nuclear densities. While extrapolating to low nuclear densities, this result is compatible with the recent finding by comparing the available data on the electric dipole polarizability with the theoretical predictions. Our finding is expected to push the studies of nuclear physics and astrophysics forward., Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, PRC, in production

Recent studies at Jefferson Lab show that there are a certain proportion of nucleons in nuclei have momenta greater than the so-called nuclear Fermi momentum $p_{F}$. Based on the transport model of nucleus-nucleus collisions at intermediate energies, nucleon high momentum caused by the neutron-proton short-range correlations in nuclei is constrained by comparing with $\pi$ and photon experimental data and considering some uncertainties. The high momentum cutoff value $p_{max}$ $\leq$ 2$p_{F}$ is obtained., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PLB

Based on an isospin and momentum-dependent transport model, we studied the effect of momentum-dependent symmetry potential on the free neutron to proton ratio of preequilibrium nucleon emission. It is found that for $^{132}Sn+^{124}Sn$ reaction at 400 MeV/nucleon incident beam energy, free n/p ratio of preequilibrium nucleon emission mainly probe the momentum-dependence of symmetry potential at nucleon momentum around 400 $\sim$ 600 MeV/c. Whereas for 200 MeV/nucleon incident beam energy, this observable mainly probe the momentum-dependence of symmetry potential at nucleon momentum around 200 $\sim$ 400 MeV/c. To probe the symmetry energy/potential using free n/p ratio, not all the details of the momentum-dependence of the symmetry potential are important, the values of symmetry potential at only certain momentum range are crucial for an observable. It is important to input reasonable density- and momentum-dependence of the symmetry potential according to the magnitude of incident beam energy of heavy-ion collisions. The present experimental data on the symmetry potential are not enough for probing the density-dependent symmetry energy. More experimental data (such as nucleon and nuclei's scattering experiments at different nucleonic momenta and densities) on the symmetry potential are therefore needed to pin down the density-dependent symmetry energy., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

Within the framework of the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck(IBUU) transport model, we studied the effects of the pion potential and the symmetry energy on the pion production in the central $^{197}Au+^{197}Au$ collisions around the pion production threshold. It is found that the pion potential has opposite effects on the value of $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio at low and high pion energies. The effect of the pion potential on the total $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio becomes larger in heavy-ion collisions at beam energies below the pion production threshold. And at beam energies below the pion production threshold, with the pion potential, the effect of the symmetry energy on the $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio becomes smaller compared with that above the pion production threshold., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, PRC in production

Based on the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck(IBUU04) transport model, we explored effects of in-medium $NN$ elastic scattering cross section and nuclear symmetry energy on the sub-threshold pion production in $^{132}Sn+^{124}Sn$ reaction. We find that with decrease of incident beam energy, effects of in-medium $NN$ elastic scattering cross section on the $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ ratio are larger than that of the symmetry energy although the latter may be also larger. While keeping the effect of symmetry energy, the double ratio of $\pi^{-}/\pi^{+}$ from neutron-rich and neutron-poor reaction systems (with the same mass number of system) $^{132}Sn+^{124}Sn$ and $^{128}Pm+^{128}Pm$ almost fully cancels out the effects of in-medium $NN$ elastic scattering cross section., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures. added one figure and related discussions, accepted by PRC

To exactly answer which density region that some frequently used symmetry-energy-sensitive observables probe, for the first time, we make a study of decomposition of the sensitivity of some symmetry-energy-sensitive observables. It is found that for the Au+Au reaction at incident beam energies of 200 and 400 MeV/nucleon, frequently used symmetry-energy-sensitive observables mainly probe the density-dependent symmetry energy around 1.25$\rho_{0}$ (for pionic observables) or 1.5$\rho_{0}$ (for nucleonic observables). Effects of the symmetry energy in the low-density region is in general small but observable. The fact that the symmetry-energy-sensitive observables are not sensitive to the symmetry energy in the maximal baryon-density region increases the difficulty of studying nuclear symmetry energy at super-density., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, accepted by PRC