Effective mass splitting of neutron and proton and isospin emission in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Within the framework of an isospin and momentum dependent transport model, the emissions of isospin particles (nucleons and light clusters) squeezed out in heavy-ion collisions are investigated as probes of the poorly known symmetry energy at high baryon density. Two different mass splittings of neutrons and protons in nuclear medium as $m_{n}^{\ast}>m_{p}^{\ast}$ and $m_{n}^{\ast}<m_{p}^{\ast}$ are used in the model and their influence on the isospin emission in heavy-ion collisions is discussed thoroughly. The competition between the stiffness and the momentum dependence of the symmetry potential on reaction dynamics are compared and systematically analyzed. It is found that the difference of the neutron and proton directed flows and the transverse momentum distribution of the neutron/proton ratio are sensitive to the stiffness of the symmetry energy, which can not be changed with the controversial effective mass splitting. The elliptic flows of free nucleons at high transverse momentum within mid-rapidity emission are a promising observable as distinguishing the nucleon effective mass splitting.