Effect of nucleus deformation on final-state flow harmonics

Abstract

In this study, we explore the effect of the deformation of nuclei on collective flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The parameter associated with the geometrical deformation in the Glauber model is tuned to reproduce the empirical multiplicity probability distributions correctly. Subsequently, the particle spectra and collective flows for Au+Au and U+U collisions are evaluated using a hybrid hydrodynamic code CHESS. We analyze the effects of the degrees of freedom associated with the initial conditions on the final-state flow harmonics by exploring the parameter space of U+U collisions. The connection between the deformation parameters, specifically and , and the flow anisotropies is scrutinized. In particular, deviations in elliptic flow at GeV are observed at smaller values of in Au+Au collisions. In contrast, for U+U collisions, the averaged overall flow harmonics are found to be less sensitive to geometrical parameters. Despite the difference in model specifications, our findings largely confirm those obtained in previous studies employing different approaches, which indicate that flow harmonics can be used as a sensible probe for initial geometry fluctuations and to discriminate between different theoretical models.