Thermodynamics of Delta resonances

The thermodynamic potential of a system of pions and nucleons is computed including the piN interactions in the P33 channel. A consistent treatment of the width of the resonance in this channel, the Delta(1232) resonance, is explored in detail. In the low-density limit we recover the leading term of the virial expansion for the thermodynamic potential. An instructive diagrammatic interpretation of the contributions to the total baryon number is presented. Furthermore, we examine within a fireball model the consequences for the pion spectra in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies, including the effect of collective flow. A consistent treatment of the Delta width leads to a substantial enhancement of the pion yield at low momenta.Comment: 12 pages, 3 Postscript figures, LaTeX, elsart, epsfig, minor changes, references added, to be published in Physics Letters

Determination of the Equation of State of Dense Matter

Nuclear collisions can compress nuclear matter to densities achieved within neutron stars and within core-collapse supernovae. These dense states of matter exist momentarily before expanding. We analyzed the flow of matter to extract pressures in excess of 10^34 pascals, the highest recorded under laboratory-controlled conditions. Using these analyses, we rule out strongly repulsive nuclear equations of state from relativistic mean field theory and weakly repulsive equations of state with phase transitions at densities less than three times that of stable nuclei, but not equations of state softened at higher densities because of a transformation to quark matter.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures; final versio

Particle production in quantum transport theories

The particle production in the intermediate energy heavy ion collisions is discussed in the framework of the nonequilibrium Green's functions formalism. The evolution equations of the Green's functions for fermions allows for the discussion of the off-shell fermion propagator and of the large momentum component in the initial state. For the case of a homogeneous system numerical calculations of the meson production rate are performed and compared with the semiclassical production rate.Comment: 45 pages, figures included, uses FEYNMAN macro

Constraints on the density dependence of the symmetry energy

Collisions involving 112Sn and 124Sn nuclei have been simulated with the improved Quantum Molecular Dynamics transport model. The results of the calculations reproduce isospin diffusion data from two different observables and the ratios of neutron and proton spectra. By comparing these data to calculations performed over a range of symmetry energies at saturation density and different representations of the density dependence of the symmetry energy, constraints on the density dependence of the symmetry energy at sub-normal density are obtained. Results from present work are compared to constraints put forward in other recent analysis.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures,accepted for publication in Phy. Rev. Let

Nuclear Flow in Consistent Boltzmann Algorithm Models

We investigate the stochastic Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) for numerically solving the collision-term in heavy-ion transport theories of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) type. The first major modification we consider is changes in the collision rates due to excluded volume and shadowing/screening effects (Enskog theory). The second effect studied by us is the inclusion of an additional advection term. These modifications ensure a non-vanishing second virial and change the equation of state for the scattering process from that of an ideal gas to that of a hard-sphere gas. We analyse the effect of these modifications on the calculated value of directed nuclear collective flow in heavy ion collisions, and find that the flow slightly increases.Comment: 12 pages, REVTeX, figures available in PostScript from the authors upon reques

Optimized Discretization of Sources Imaged in Heavy-Ion Reactions

We develop the new method of optimized discretization for imaging the relative source from two particle correlation functions. In this method, the source resolution depends on the relative particle separation and is adjusted to available data and their errors. We test the method by restoring assumed pp sources and then apply the method to pp and IMF data. In reactions below 100 MeV/nucleon, significant portions of the sources extend to large distances (r > 20 fm). The results from the imaging show the inadequacy of common Gaussian source-parametrizations. We establish a simple relation between the height of the pp correlation function and the source value at short distances, and between the height and the proton freeze-out phase-space density.Comment: 36 pages (inc. 9 figures), RevTeX, uses epsf.sty. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Transport Model Simulations of Projectile Fragmentation Reactions at 140 MeV/nucleon

The collisions in four different reaction systems using $^{40,48}$Ca and $^{58,64}$Ni isotope beams and a Be target have been simulated using the Heavy Ion Phase Space Exploration and the Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics models. The present study mainly focuses on the model predictions for the excitation energies of the hot fragments and the cross sections of the final fragments produced in these reactions. The effects of various factors influencing the final fragment cross sections, such as the choice of the statistical decay code and its parameters have been explored. The predicted fragment cross sections are compared to the projectile fragmentation cross sections measured with the A1900 mass separator. At $E/A=140$ MeV, reaction dynamics can significantly modify the detection efficiencies for the fragments and make them different from the efficiencies applied to the measured data reported in the previous work. The effects of efficiency corrections on the validation of event generator codes are discussed in the context of the two models.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figure