authors of the new study

“In contrast to pA collisions, where initial conditions are dominated by event-by-event fluctuations, symmetric collisions of light ions provide better control of the initial collision geometry, since it is determined primarily by the spatial distribution of nucleons rather than the partonic structure of the proton. This makes symmetric light ion collisions ideal for investigating the final-state collective response in small collision systems.”

authors of the new study · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-21

Researchers analyzed light ion collisions at the LHC to study the nuclear geometry of oxygen and neon.