Probing the neutron-skin of unstable nuclei with heavy ion collisions

Abstract

To improve the constraints of symmetry energy at subsaturation density, measuring and accumulating more neutron skin data for neutron rich unstable nuclei is naturally required. Aiming to probe the neutron skin of unstable nuclei by using low-intermediate energy heavy ion collisions, we develop a new version of improved quantum molecular dynamics model, in which the neutron skin of the initial nucleus and the mean field potential in nucleon propagation are consistently treated. Our calculations show that the three observables, such as the cross sections of the primary projectile-like residues with $A>100$ ($\sigma_{A>100}$), the difference of $\sigma_{A>100}$ between $^{132}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn and $^{124}$Sn+$^{124}$Sn systems ($\delta \sigma_{A>100}$), and the neutron to proton yield ratio ($R(n/p)$) in the transverse direction, could be used to measure the neutron skin of the unstable nuclei and to constrain the slope of the symmetry energy in the future.