Abstract
To exactly answer which density region that some frequently used symmetry-energy-sensitive observables probe, for the first time, we make a study of the decomposition of the sensitivity of some symmetry-energy-sensitive observables. It is found that for the Au+Au reaction at incident beam energies of 200 and 400 MeV/nucleon, frequently used symmetry-energy-sensitive observables mainly probe the density-dependent symmetry energy around (for pionic observables) or (for nucleonic observables). Effects of the symmetry energy in the low-density region is in general small but observable. The fact that the symmetry-energy-sensitive observables are not sensitive to the symmetry energy in the maximal baryon-density region increases the difficulty of studying nuclear symmetry energy at superdensity.
- Received 10 February 2015
- Revised 20 March 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.91.044609
©2015 American Physical Society