110 research outputs found
Thermally-induced expansion in the 8 GeV/c + Au reaction
Fragment kinetic energy spectra for reactions induced by 8.0 GeV/c
beams incident on a Au target have been analyzed in
order to deduce the possible existence and influence of thermal expansion. The
average fragment kinetic energies are observed to increase systematically with
fragment charge but are nearly independent of excitation energy. Comparison of
the data with statistical multifragmentation models indicates the onset of
extra collective thermal expansion near an excitation energy of E*/A
5 MeV. However, this effect is weak relative to the radial
expansion observed in heavy-ion-induced reactions, consistent with the
interpretation that the latter expansion may be driven primarily by dynamical
effects such as compression/decompression.Comment: 12 pages including 4 postscript figure
Excitation and decay of projectile-like fragments formed in dissipative peripheral collisions at intermediate energies
Projectile-like fragments (PLF:15<=Z<=46) formed in peripheral and
mid-peripheral collisions of 114Cd projectiles with 92Mo nuclei at E/A=50 MeV
have been detected at very forward angles, 2.1 deg.<=theta_lab<=4.2 deg.
Calorimetric analysis of the charged particles observed in coincidence with the
PLF reveals that the excitation of the primary PLF is strongly related to its
velocity damping. Furthermore, for a given V_PLF*, its excitation is not
related to its size, Z_PLF*. For the largest velocity damping, the excitation
energy attained is large, approximately commensurate with a system at the
limiting temperatureComment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Effect of the intermediate velocity emissions on the quasi-projectile properties for the Ar+Ni system at 95 A.MeV
The quasi-projectile (QP) properties are investigated in the Ar+Ni collisions
at 95 A.MeV taking into account the intermediate velocity emission. Indeed, in
this reaction, between 52 and 95 A.MeV bombarding energies, the number of
particles emitted in the intermediate velocity region is related to the overlap
volume between projectile and target. Mean transverse energies of these
particles are found particularly high. In this context, the mass of the QP
decreases linearly with the impact parameter from peripheral to central
collisions whereas its excitation energy increases up to 8 A.MeV. These results
are compared to previous analyses assuming a pure binary scenario
Fragment properties of fragmenting heavy nuclei produced in central and semi-peripheral collisions
Fragment properties of hot fragmenting sources of similar sizes produced in
central and semi-peripheral collisions are compared in the excitation energy
range 5-10 AMeV. For semi-peripheral collisions a method for selecting compact
quasi-projectiles sources in velocity space similar to those of fused systems
(central collisions) is proposed. The two major results are related to
collective energy. The weak radial collective energy observed for
quasi-projectile sources is shown to originate from thermal pressure only. The
larger fragment multiplicity observed for fused systems and their more
symmetric fragmentation are related to the extra radial collective energy due
to expansion following a compression phase during central collisions. A first
attempt to locate where the different sources break in the phase diagram is
proposed.Comment: 23 pages submitted to NP
Multifragmentation of a very heavy nuclear system (I): Selection of single-source events
A sample of `single-source' events, compatible with the multifragmentation of
very heavy fused systems, are isolated among well-measured 155Gd+natU 36AMeV
reactions by examining the evolution of the kinematics of fragments with Z>=5
as a function of the dissipated energy and loss of memory of the entrance
channel. Single-source events are found to be the result of very central
collisions. Such central collisions may also lead to multiple fragment emission
due to the decay of excited projectile- and target-like nuclei and so-called
`neck' emission, and for this reason the isolation of single-source events is
very difficult. Event-selection criteria based on centrality of collisions, or
on the isotropy of the emitted fragments in each event, are found to be
inefficient to separate the two mechanisms, unless they take into account the
redistribution of fragments' kinetic energies into directions perpendicular to
the beam axis. The selected events are good candidates to look for bulk effects
in the multifragmentation process.Comment: 39 pages including 15 figures; submitted to Nucl. Phys.
Bimodality: a possible experimental signature of the liquid-gas phase transition of nuclear matter
We have observed a bimodal behaviour of the distribution of the asymmetry
between the charges of the two heaviest products resulting from the decay of
the quasi-projectile released in binary Xe+Sn and Au+Au collisions from 60 to
100 MeV/u. Event sorting has been achieved through the transverse energy of
light charged particles emitted on the quasi-target side, thus avoiding
artificial correlations between the bimodality signal and the sorting variable.
Bimodality is observed for intermediate impact parameters for which the
quasi-projectile is identified. A simulation shows that the deexcitation step
rather than the geometry of the collision appears responsible for the bimodal
behaviour. The influence of mid-rapidity emission has been verified. The two
bumps of the bimodal distribution correspond to different excitation energies
and similar temperatures. It is also shown that it is possible to correlate the
bimodality signal with a change in the distribution of the heaviest fragment
charge and a peak in potential energy fluctuations. All together, this set of
data is coherent with what would be expected in a finite system if the
corresponding system in the thermodynamic limit exhibits a first order phase
transition.Comment: 30 pages, 31 figure
Fragment Isospin as a Probe of Heavy-Ion Collisions
Isotope ratios of fragments produced at mid-rapidity in peripheral and
central collisions of 114Cd ions with 92Mo and 98Mo target nuclei at E/A = 50
MeV are compared. Neutron-rich isotopes are preferentially produced in central
collisions as compared to peripheral collisions. The influence of the size (A),
density, N/Z, E*/A, and Eflow/A of the emitting source on the measured isotope
ratios was explored by comparison with a statistical model (SMM). The
mid-rapidity region associated with peripheral collisions does not appear to be
neutron-enriched relative to central collisions.Comment: 12 pages including figure
Study of intermediate velocity products in the Ar+Ni collisions between 52 and 95 A.MeV
Intermediate velocity products in Ar+Ni collisions from 52 to 95 A.MeV are
studied in an experiment performed at the GANIL facility with the 4
multidetector INDRA. It is shown that these emissions cannot be explained by
statistical decays of the quasi-projectile and the quasi-target in complete
equilibrium. Three methods are used to isolate and characterize intermediate
velocity products. The total mass of these products increases with the violence
of the collision and reaches a large fraction of the system mass in mid-central
collisions. This mass is found independent of the incident energy, but strongly
dependent on the geometry of the collision. Finally it is shown that the
kinematical characteristics of intermediate velocity products are weakly
dependent on the experimental impact parameter, but strongly dependent on the
incident energy. The observed trends are consistent with a
participant-spectator like scenario or with neck emissions and/or break-up.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figure
Multifragmentation in Xe(50A MeV)+Sn Confrontation of theory and data
We compare in detail central collisions Xe(50A MeV) + Sn, recently measured
by the INDRA collaboration, with the Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) model in
order to identify the reaction mechanism which leads to multifragmentation. We
find that QMD describes the data quite well, in the projectile/target region as
well as in the midrapidity zone where also statistical models can be and have
been employed. The agreement between QMD and data allows to use this dynamical
model to investigate the reaction in detail. We arrive at the following
observations: a) the in medium nucleon nucleon cross section is not
significantly different from the free cross section, b) even the most central
collisions have a binary character, c) most of the fragments are produced in
the central collisions and d) the simulations as well as the data show a strong
attractive in-plane flow resembling deep inelastic collisions e) at midrapidity
the results from QMD and those from statistical model calculations agree for
almost all observables with the exception of . This
renders it difficult to extract the reaction mechanism from midrapidity
fragments only. According to the simulations the reaction shows a very early
formation of fragments, even in central collisions, which pass through the
reaction zone without being destroyed. The final transverse momentum of the
fragments is very close to the initial one and due to the Fermi motion. A
heating up of the systems is not observed and hence a thermal origin of the
spectra cannot be confirmed.Comment: figures 1 and 2 changed (no more ps -errors
Measurements of sideward flow around the balance energy
Sideward flow values have been determined with the INDRA multidetector for
Ar+Ni, Ni+Ni and Xe+Sn systems studied at GANIL in the 30 to 100 A.MeV incident
energy range. The balance energies found for Ar+Ni and Ni+Ni systems are in
agreement with previous experimental results and theoretical calculations.
Negative sideward flow values have been measured. The possible origins of such
negative values are discussed. They could result from a more important
contribution of evaporated particles with respect to the contribution of
promptly emitted particles at mid-rapidity. But effects induced by the methods
used to reconstruct the reaction plane cannot be totally excluded. Complete
tests of these methods are presented and the origins of the
``auto-correlation'' effect have been traced back. For heavy fragments, the
observed negative flow values seem to be mainly due to the reaction plane
reconstruction methods. For light charged particles, these negative values
could result from the dynamics of the collisions and from the reaction plane
reconstruction methods as well. These effects have to be taken into account
when comparisons with theoretical calculations are done.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figure
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