Using the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics(UrQMD) model,the balance energies of free neutrons,free protons and Z=1 particles(including free protons,deuterons and tritons) from mass symmetric heavy-ion collisions with isotopes,isobars and isotones are studied.The influence of nuclear symmetry potential energy on the balance energy is emphasized.It is found that the balance energy of free neutrons is sensitive to the nuclear symmetry energy,while that of free protons is not.Particularly,the initial neutron/proton ratio dependence of the balance energy of free neutrons from Sn isotopes can be taken as a useful probe to constrain the stiffness of the nuclear symmetry energy.
The influence of the density-dependent symmetry energy on the balance energy （Ebal） of directed flow from heavy ion collisions （HICs） at incident energies covered by INDRA and MSU experiments is studied, using the updated version of the ultra- relativistic quantum molecular dynamics （UrQMD） model, especially adapted to low-energy heavy ion collisions （HICs）. Four mass-symmetric reactions with total mass numbers between 192 and 394 are chosen for investigating the influence of the symmetry energy on the system-mass dependence of Eual. The results show that the uncertainty in the density dependence of the symmetry potential causes changes of Ebal of the order of several MeV, depending on the type of particle considered. The Ebal of neutrons from HICs is particularly sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry potential energy, while the system-mass dependence of EbaI of Z = 1 particles is not.
