The long-range collective flow of particles produced in oxygen-oxygen (OO) and neon-neon (NeNe) collisions is measured with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The data samples were collected at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.36 TeV, with integrated luminosities of 7 nb$^{-1}$ and 0.8 nb$^{-1}$ for OO and NeNe collisions, respectively. Two- and four-particle azimuthal correlations are measured over nearly five units of pseudorapidity. Significant elliptic ($v_2$) and triangular ($v_3$) flow harmonics are observed in both systems. The ratios of $v_n$ coefficients between NeNe and OO collisions reveal sensitivity to quadrupole correlations in the nuclear wave functions. Hydrodynamic models with $\textit{ab initio}$ nuclear structure inputs qualitatively reproduce the collision-overlap dependence of both the $v_n$ values and the NeNe to OO ratios. These measurements provide new constraints on hydrodynamic models for small collision systems and offer valuable input on the nuclear structure of $^{16}$O and $^{20}$Ne.
The $v_{2}\{2,\lvert\Delta\eta\rvert>2\}$, $v_{3}\{2,\lvert\Delta\eta\rvert>2\}$ and $v_{2}\{4\}$ values for charged particles as functions of centrality in OO collisions at 5.36 TeV.
The $v_{2}\{2,\lvert\Delta\eta\rvert>2\}$, $v_{3}\{2,\lvert\Delta\eta\rvert>2\}$ and $v_{2}\{4\}$ values for charged particles as functions of centrality in NeNe collisions at 5.36 TeV.
The $v_{2}\{2,\lvert\Delta\eta\rvert>2\}$ and $v_{2}\{4\}$ ratios for charged particles as functions of centrality in NeNe to OO collisions at 5.36 TeV.
A hot and dense state of nuclear matter, known as the quark-gluon plasma, is created in collisions of ultrarelativistic heavy nuclei. Highly energetic quarks and gluons, collectively referred to as partons, lose energy as they travel through this matter, leading to suppressed production of particles with large transverse momenta ($p_\mathrm{T}$). Conversely, high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ particle suppression has not been seen in proton-lead collisions, raising questions regarding the minimum system size required to observe parton energy loss. Oxygen-oxygen (OO) collisions examine a region of effective system size that lies between these two extreme cases. The CMS detector at the CERN LHC has been used to quantify charged-particle production in inclusive OO collisions for the first time via measurements of the nuclear modification factor ($R_\mathrm{AA}$). The $R_\mathrm{AA}$ is derived by comparing particle production to expectations based on proton-proton (pp) data and has a value of unity in the absence of nuclear effects. The data for OO and pp collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.36 TeV correspond to integrated luminosities of 6.1 nb$^{-1}$ and 1.02 pb$^{-1}$, respectively. The $R_\mathrm{AA}$ is below unity with a minimum of 0.69 $\pm$ 0.04 around $p_\mathrm{T}$ = 6 GeV. The data exhibit better agreement with theoretical models incorporating parton energy loss as compared to baseline models without energy loss.
Inclusive charged particle spectra for pp collisions at 5.36 TeV for $3 < p_{T} (GeV) <103.6$. The errors represent statistical, systematics and normalization uncertainties.
Inclusive charged particle spectra for OO collisions at 5.36 TeV for $3 < p_{T} (GeV) <103.6$. The errors represent statistical, systematics and normalization uncertainties.
Inclusive charged particle R_{AA} for 5.36 TeV OO collisions for $3 < p_{T} (GeV) <103.6$. The errors represent statistical, systematics and normalization uncertainties.
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