Characterizing nuclear modification effects in high-energy O-O collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider: A transport model perspective

The present work focuses on Oxygen-Oxygen (O-O) collisions, which are planned at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Oxygen, being a doubly magic number nucleus, has some very unique features. This study attempts to probe the exotic state of QCD matter in O-O collisions. Additionally, the role of different nuclear density profiles in governing the final state dynamics in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions is also explored. Using a multi-phase transport model, we obtain the nuclear modification factor ($\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$) for all charged hadrons and identified particles for O-O collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 7 TeV. Furthermore, we investigate the behavior of $\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$ as a function of transverse momentum ($\textit{p}_{\rm{T}}$) for three centralities (most central, mid-central, and peripheral) considering both $\alpha$-cluster and Woods-Saxon nuclear density profiles. We also extend this work to study the rapidity dependence of $\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$ for all charged hadrons. To better understand our findings of O-O collisions, the results are confronted with the available data of $\textit R_{\textit {AA}}$ for Pb-Pb collisions. The present study sheds light on particle production mechanisms, emphasizing factors influencing particle yield from pre-collision to post-collision stages in the context of O-O collisions.