  Recent studies have shown that the shape and radial profile of the colliding
nuclei have strong influences on the initial condition of the heavy ion
collisions and the subsequent development of the anisotropic flow. Using A
Multi-Phase Transport model (AMPT) model, we investigated the impact of nuclear
quadrupole deformation $\beta_2$ and nuclear diffuseness $a_0$ of $^{129}$Xe on
various of flow observables in Xe--Xe collisions at $\sqrtnn =$ 5.44 TeV. We
found that $\beta_2$ has a strong influence on central collisions while $a_0$
mostly influences the mid-central collisions. The relative change of flow
observables induced by a change in $\beta_2$ and $a_0$ are also found to be
insensitive to the values of parameters controlling the strength of the
interaction among final state particles. Our study demonstrates the potential
for constraining the initial condition of heavy ion collisions using future
system scans at the LHC.
