A model for projectile fragmentation

A model for projectile fragmentation is developed whose origin can be traced back to the Bevalac era. The model positions itself between the phenomenological EPAX parametrization and transport models like "Heavy Ion Phase Space Exploration" (HIPSE) model and antisymmetrised molecular dynamics (AMD) model. A very simple impact parameter dependence of input temperature is incorporated in the model which helps to analyze the more peripheral collisions. The model is applied to calculate the charge, isotopic distributions, average number of intermediate mass fragments and the average size of largest cluster at different Z_{bound} of different projectile fragmentation reactions at different energies.Comment: Talk given by Gargi Chaudhuri at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. 10 pages, 7 figure

Transformation between statistical ensembles in the modelling of nuclear fragmentation

We explore the conditions under which the particle number conservation constraint deforms the predictions of fragmentation observables as calculated in the grand canonical ensemble. We derive an analytical formula allowing to extract canonical results from a grand canonical calculation and vice versa. This formula shows that exact canonical results can be recovered for observables varying linearly or quadratically with the number of particles, independent of the grand canonical particle number fluctuations. We explore the validity of such grand canonical extrapolation for different fragmentation observables in the framework of the analytical Grand Canonical or Canonical Thermodynamical Model [(G)CTM] of nuclear multifragmentation. It is found that corrections to the grand canonical expectations can be evaluated with high precision, provided the system does not experience a first order phase transition. In particular, because of the Coulomb quenching of the liquid-gas phase transition of nuclear matter, we find that mass conservation corrections to the grand canonical ensemble can be safely computed for typical observables of interest in experimental measurements of nuclear fragmentation, even if deviations exist for highly exclusive observables.Comment: In press in Physics Letters

Symmetry energy from fragment observables in the canonical thermodynamic model

Different formulas relying measurable fragment isotopic observables to the symmetry energy of excited nuclei have been proposed and applied to the analysis of heavy ion collision data in the recent literature. In this paper we examine the quality of the different expressions in the framework of the McGill Canonical Thermodynamic Model. We show that even in the idealized situation of canonical equilibrium and in the absence of secondary decay, these formulas do not give a precise reconstruction of the symmetry energy of the fragmenting source. However, both isotopic widths and isoscaling appear very well correlated to the physical symmetry energy.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review