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Within the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model, the effect of initial density fluctuations on cumulants of the net-proton multiplicity distribution in Au + Au Collisions at s N N = 7.7 GeV was investigated by varying the minimum distance d min between two nucleons in the initialization. It was found that the initial density fluctuations increased with the decrease of d min from 1.6 fm to 1.0 fm, and the influence of d min on the magnitude of the net-proton number fluctuation in a narrow pseudorapidity window ( Δ η ≤ 4) was negligible even if it indeed affected the density evolution during the collision. At a broad pseudorapidity window ( Δ η ≥ 4), the cumulant ratios were enlarged when the initial density fluctuations were increased with the smaller value of d min , and this enhancement was comparable to that observed in the presence of the nuclear mean-field potential. Moreover, the enhanced cumulants were more evident in collisions with a larger impact parameter. The present work demonstrates that the fingerprint of the initial density fluctuations on the cumulants in a broad pseudorapidity window is clearly visible, while it is not obvious as the pseudorapidity window becomes narrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The nuclear incompressibility ( K 0 ) plays a crucial role in understanding diverse phenomena in nuclear structure and reactions, as well as in astrophysics. Heavy-ion-collision measurements in combination with transport model simulations serve as important tools for extracting the nuclear incompressibility. However, uncertainties in transport models (or model dependence) partly affect the reliability of the extracted result. Purpose: In the present work, by using the recently measured data of rapidity-dependent flows, we constrain the incompressibility of nuclear matter and analyze the impact of model uncertainties on the obtained value. Method: The method is based on the newly updated version of the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model in which the Skyrme potential energy-density functional is introduced. Three different Skyrme interactions which give different incompressibilities varying from K 0 = 201 to 271 MeV are adopted. The incompressibility is deduced from the comparison of the UrQMD model simulations and the FOPI data for rapidity-dependent elliptic flow in Au + Au collisions at beam energies 0.4 A –1.0 A GeV. Results: The elliptic flow v 2 as a function of rapidity y 0 can be well described by a quadratic fit v 2 = v 20 + v 22 ⋅ y 0 2 . It is found that the quantity v 2 n defined by v 2 n = | v 20 | + | v 22 | is quite sensitive to the incompressibility K 0 and the in-medium nucleon–nucleon cross section, but not sensitive to the slope parameter L of the nuclear symmetry energy. Conclusions: With the FU3FP4 parametrization of the in-medium nucleon–nucleon cross section, an averaged K 0 = 220 ± 40 MeV is extracted from the v 2 n of free protons and deuterons. However, remaining systematic uncertainties, partly related to the choice of in-medium nucleon–nucleon cross sections, are of the same magnitude ( ± 40 MeV ). Overall, the rapidity dependent elliptic flow supports a soft symmetric-matter equation-of-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]