In-medium effects of nucleon-nucleon cross sections in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Based on the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, we systematically investigate the in-medium effects of nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) cross sections on nucleonic and pionic observables in heavy-ion collisions, employing microscopic cross sections derived from the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach. Key observables include nuclear stopping, the neutron-to-proton ($n/p$) ratio, neutron-proton transverse flow differences, differential collective flow, pion multiplicities, and the resulting $(\ddot{I}{€}^{-}/\ddot{I}{€}^{+}{)}_{\mathrm{like}}$ ratio. The analysis disentangles the respective contributions from the scattering amplitude, the density of states, and the total momentum ($K$) of the colliding pairs. We find that larger in-medium $NN$ cross sections generally enhance free nucleon emission and nuclear stopping, with the nucleon effective mass playing a dominant suppressive role. However, it is insufficient to account only for the medium corrections from effective mass: both the medium effect from the scattering amplitude and the $K$-dependence exert noticeable influences on the observables. In particular, nuclear stopping is found to be highly sensitive to these in-medium modifications of cross sections. While the $n/p$ ratio and transverse flow difference remain largely insensitive, the differential collective flow and pion yields are strongly affected. These results indicate that the interplay between scattering amplitude, density-of-states and $K$-dependence is essential to accurately describe medium effects in heavy-ion collisions.

11 pages, 9 figures, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C (2026)