LHC study uncovers bowling-pin shaped neon-20 nuclei
Physicists at the LHC compared collisions of light nuclei (oxygen-16 and neon-20) to probe atomic-nucleus shapes. They found evidence that neon-20 has a bowling-pin-like deformation, which subtly alters the flow of particles emitted in collisions (elliptic and triangular flow), supporting the idea that nuclear geometry affects collision outcomes. Some quantitative mismatches with models remain, but the results demonstrate that collider experiments can reveal nucleus shapes; the findings are published in Physical Review Letters.