Heavy-Ion Collisions as Probes of Nuclear Structure

Abstract

In this work, we perform a model-to-data comparison for U+U and Au+Au collisions performed at RHIC at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = $193$ GeV and $200$ GeV, using a multistage framework. Model calculations for various configurations of $^{238}$U and $^{197}$Au are used to compare with measurements of $\rho(v_n\{2\}^2,\left\langle p_T \right\rangle)$, the elliptic-flow-momentum correlator, for the first time. It is found that momentum-flow correlations measured in high-energy nuclear collisions, combined with the flow harmonics themselves, are excellent probes of nuclear deformation and of nuclear structure in general.