Precise Measurement of Short-Range Correlations in Nuclei from Bremsstrahlung Gamma Ray Emission in Low-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

Abstract

Atomic nuclei and dense nucleonic matter in neutron stars exhibit short-range correlations (SRCs), where nucleons form temporally correlated pairs in proximity beyond mean-field approximation. It is essential to make precision measurement of the fraction of SRC since it carries the signature of underlying quark dynamics in nuclear medium. In this letter, we present the first high-precision measurement of neutron-proton bremsstrahlung $\gamma$-ray emission from the symmetric ${}^{124}\mathrm{Sn}$+${}^{124}\mathrm{Sn}$ reactions at 25 MeV/u. From the observed spectral hardening, the precise SRC fraction in the ${}^{124}\mathrm{Sn}$ nucleus is extracted to be $(20\pm 3)\%$. This result provides a novel, direct and unambiguous evidence of SRCs, and demonstrates that low-energy heavy-ion collisions offers a new approach to studying nuclear structure in connection with quark-level dynamics.

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Nucleon Short-Range Correlations and High-Momentum Dynamics: Implications on the Equation of State of Dense Matter
• Experimental Study of Bremsstrahlung Gamma Ray Emission and Short-Range Correlations in ${}^{124}$Sn+${}^{124}$Sn Collisions at 25 MeV/u
• Neutron Star Equation of State with Nucleon Short-Range Correlations: A Concise Review and Open Issues