Neutron-proton elliptic flow in Au + Au

Abstract

The elliptic flow of neutrons, protons and light complex particles in reactions of neutron-rich systems at relativistic energies is proposed as an observable sensitive to the strength of the symmetry term in the equation of state at supra-normal densities. Preliminary results from a study of the existing FOPI/LAND data for 197Au + 197Au collisions at 400 A MeV with the UrQMD model favor a moderately soft symmetry term with a density dependence of the potential term proportional to (rho/rho_0)^gamma with gamma = 0.9 +- 0.3.

4 pages, 2 figures, contribution to Proceedings of the XLVII International Winter Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Bormio (Italy), Jan. 26-30, 2009