Probing nuclear geometry through multi-particle azimuthal correlations and rapidity-even dipolar flow in $${}^{16}$$O+$${}^{16}$$O collisions

Abstract We study symmetric and asymmetric cumulants as well as rapidity-even dipolar flow in $${}^{16}$$ 16 O+ $${}^{16}$$ 16 O collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$$ s NN = 200 GeV to explore $$\alpha $$ α -clustering phenomena in light nuclei within the viscous relativistic hydrodynamics framework. Signatures of $$\alpha $$ α -clustering manifest in the anisotropic flow coefficients and their correlations – particularly in observables involving elliptic-triangular flow correlations. We show that final-state symmetric and asymmetric cumulants – especially $$\textrm{NSC}(2,3)$$ NSC ( 2 , 3 ) and $$\textrm{NAC}_{2,1}(2,3)$$ NAC 2 , 1 ( 2 , 3 ) – are sensitive to the initial nuclear geometry. Additionally, we observe a significant difference in rapidity-even dipolar flow, $$v_1^{\text {even}}$$ v 1 even , between $$\alpha $$ α -clustered and Woods–Saxon configurations in high-multiplicity events. These findings underscore the pivotal role of nuclear structure in heavy-ion collision dynamics and provide observables for distinguishing nuclear geometries, particularly in ultra-central collisions.