Probing nuclear geometry through multi-particle azimuthal correlations and rapidity-even dipolar flow in $${}^{16}$$O+$${}^{16}$$O collisions

Abstract We study symmetric and asymmetric cumulants as well as rapidity-even dipolar flow in $${}^{16}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mmultiscripts> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>16</mml:mn> </mml:mmultiscripts> </mml:math> O+ $${}^{16}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mmultiscripts> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>16</mml:mn> </mml:mmultiscripts> </mml:math> O collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>NN</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>200</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> GeV to explore $$\alpha $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> -clustering phenomena in light nuclei within the viscous relativistic hydrodynamics framework. Signatures of $$\alpha $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> -clustering manifest in the anisotropic flow coefficients and their correlations – particularly in observables involving elliptic-triangular flow correlations. We show that final-state symmetric and asymmetric cumulants – especially $$\textrm{NSC}(2,3)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>NSC</mml:mtext> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and $$\textrm{NAC}_{2,1}(2,3)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mtext>NAC</mml:mtext> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> – are sensitive to the initial nuclear geometry. Additionally, we observe a significant difference in rapidity-even dipolar flow, $$v_1^{\text {even}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>v</mml:mi> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mtext>even</mml:mtext> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> , between $$\alpha $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>α</mml:mi> </mml:math> -clustered and Woods–Saxon configurations in high-multiplicity events. These findings underscore the pivotal role of nuclear structure in heavy-ion collision dynamics and provide observables for distinguishing nuclear geometries, particularly in ultra-central collisions.