Rapidity distributions of Z=1 isotopes and the nuclear symmetry energy from Sn plus Sn collisions with radioactive beams at 270 MeV/nucleon

The rapidity distributions of hydrogen isotopes emitted from central collisions of neutron-rich Sn-132+Sn-124 and neutron-deficient Sn-108+Sn-112 systems at 270 MeV/nucleon were investigated at RIKEN-RIBF. The data are compared with antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) calculations and the rapidity distributions can be reproduced after adjusting the in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross sections. The double ratios between the two reaction systems taken for the relative yields of deuteron to proton (d/p) and triton to proton (t/p) are further examined in the midrapidity domain, where the adjustments in the AMD calculations do not affect much on them. The d/p and t/p double ratios at midrapidity agree well with the ratio of the system neutron numbers and its squared value, respectively, and the rapidity dependence of these double ratios is consistent with a picture of partial mixing of colliding nuclei. By comparing with the AMD model which shows a strong symmetry energy dependence of the t/p double ratio, the experimental result in the midrapidity domain favors the calculation with a symmetry-energy slope parameter around L = 46 MeV rather than L = 108 MeV. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.