Fig. 1: Methods for determining the nuclear shape in low and high energies.
From: Imaging shapes of atomic nuclei in high-energy nuclear collisions
a, Cartoon of a well-deformed prolate-shaped nucleus. b, Quantum fluctuations over Euler angles for this nucleus and associated overall timescale. c, Quantum mechanical manifestation of the deformation in terms of the first rotational band of 238U. d, Aligning the two nuclei in the head-on body–body configuration (top) and tip–tip configuration (bottom). e, High-energy collision of two Lorentz-contracted nuclei and resulting 3D profile of the initially produced quark–gluon plasma (QGP), in which the arrows indicate the pressure gradients. f, The 3D profile of the QGP at the end of the hydrodynamic expansion before it freezes out into particles, in which the arrows indicate the velocities of fluid cells. g, Charged particle tracks measured in the detector. The timescales shown are in units of fm/c—the time for light to travel 1 femtometre. The body–body configuration has large eccentricity ε2 and small gradient d⊥, leading to large elliptic flow v2 and smaller average transverse momentum [pT] and vice versa for tip–tip configuration (see main text).
