Fundamental geometric limitations on disentangling nuclear-surface properties in relativistic heavy ion collisions
Abstract
The extraction of the nuclear surface diffuseness from relativistic heavy ion collisions is limited by the intertwined responses of geometry-driven observables to surface diffuseness and intrinsic nuclear deformation. We investigate this limitation using event-by-event Monte Carlo Glauber simulations, focusing on the sensitivity of multiparticle correlations to the Woods--Saxon surface diffuseness a0 in intrinsically deformed nuclei. We systematically examine the local correlations between a0 and quadrupole and octupole deformation parameters, β2 and β3, and determine how these correlations affect the ability of different observables to constrain a0. We find that observables dominated by elliptic geometry exhibit a strong response to quadrupole deformation, leading to a local a0--β2 degeneracy that substantially limits their sensitivity to the nuclear surface diffuseness. Triangular correlations provide a more independent response to the nuclear surface and therefore retain additional information on a0, although their sensitivity can also be modified by intrinsic deformation. Extending the analysis to simultaneous quadrupole and octupole deformation shows that the local degeneracy and least-constrained directions depend on the nuclear configuration, demonstrating that the limitation on extracting a0 is not described by a single global parameter correlation. We quantify these effects using multidimensional response maps, local sensitivity and information-geometric measures, and a Bayesian analysis of the resulting parameter constraints. The results clarify the fundamental limitations imposed by intrinsic multipole deformation on the determination of nuclear surface diffuseness from relativistic heavy ion collisions and identify multiparticle correlations that provide more independent information on a0.
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BibTeX
@misc{mehrabpour2026fundamental,
title = {{Fundamental geometric limitations on disentangling nuclear-surface properties in relativistic heavy ion collisions}},
author = {Hadi Mehrabpour and Behnaz Behzadmoghaddam and S. M. A. Tabatabaee Mehr and Oscar Garcia-Montero and Li Yan},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01229},
eprint = {2609.01229},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01229},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Fundamental geometric limitations on disentangling nuclear-surface properties in relativistic heavy ion collisions
AU - Hadi Mehrabpour
AU - Behnaz Behzadmoghaddam
AU - S. M. A. Tabatabaee Mehr
AU - Oscar Garcia-Montero
AU - Li Yan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01229
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01229
AB - The extraction of the nuclear surface diffuseness from relativistic heavy ion collisions is limited by the intertwined responses of geometry-driven observables to surface diffuseness and intrinsic nuclear deformation. We investigate this limitation using event-by-event Monte Carlo Glauber simulations, focusing on the sensitivity of multiparticle correlations to the Woods--Saxon surface diffuseness a_0 in intrinsically deformed nuclei. We systematically examine the local correlations between a_0 and quadrupole and octupole deformation parameters, β_2 and β_3, and determine how these correlations affect the ability of different observables to constrain a_0. We find that observables dominated by elliptic geometry exhibit a strong response to quadrupole deformation, leading to a local a_0--β_2 degeneracy that substantially limits their sensitivity to the nuclear surface diffuseness. Triangular correlations provide a more independent response to the nuclear surface and therefore retain additional information on a_0, although their sensitivity can also be modified by intrinsic deformation. Extending the analysis to simultaneous quadrupole and octupole deformation shows that the local degeneracy and least-constrained directions depend on the nuclear configuration, demonstrating that the limitation on extracting a_0 is not described by a single global parameter correlation. We quantify these effects using multidimensional response maps, local sensitivity and information-geometric measures, and a Bayesian analysis of the resulting parameter constraints. The results clarify the fundamental limitations imposed by intrinsic multipole deformation on the determination of nuclear surface diffuseness from relativistic heavy ion collisions and identify multiparticle correlations that provide more independent information on a_0.
ER -