Comparative Study of Multifragmentation of Gold Nuclei Induced by Relativistic Protons, 4^4He, and 12^{12}C

Multiple emission of intermediate-mass fragments has been studied for the collisions of p, $^4$He and $^{12}$C on Au with the $4\pi$ setup FASA. The mean IMF multiplicities (for the events with at least one IMF) are saturating at the value of $2.2\pm0.2$ for the incident energies above 6 GeV. The observed IMF multiplicities cannot be described in a two-stage scenario, a fast cascade followed by a statistical multifragmentation. Agreement with the measured IMF multiplicities is obtained by introducing an intermediate phase and modifying empirically the excitation energies and masses of the remnants. The angular distributions and energy spectra from the p-induced collisions are in agreement with the scenario of ``thermal'' multifragmentation of a hot and diluted target spectator. In the case of $^{12}$C+Au(22.4 GeV) and $^4$He(14.6 GeV)+Au collisions, deviations from a pure thermal break-up are seen in the energy spectra of the emitted fragments, which are harder than those both from model calculations and from the measured ones for p-induced collisions. This difference is attributed to a collective flow.Comment: 33 pages 15 figures, accepted in Nucl. Phys.

Temperature deformations of the mirror of a radio telescope antenna

The stress informed state of the mirror of an antenna, with a diameter of 3 m, for a radio interferometer used in space, and located in a temperature field is examined. The mirror represents a parabolic shell, consisting of 19 identical parts. The problem is based on representations of the thermoelasticity of thin shells

Is binary sequential decay compatible with the fragmentation of nuclei at high energy?

We use a binary sequential decay model in order to describe the fragmentation of a nucleus induced by the high energy collisions of protons with Au nuclei. Overall agreement between measured and calculated physical observables is obtained. We evaluate and analyse the decay times obtained with two different parametrisations of the decay rates and discuss the applicability of the model to high energy fragmentation.Comment: 6 pages, 4 eps figures. Small changes at the end of the text. More arguments are given in the discussion of the time scale of the proces

Spinodal decomposition, nuclear fog and two characteristic volumes in thermal multifragmentation

Thermal multifragmentation of hot nuclei is interpreted as the nuclear liquid-fog phase transition inside the spinodal region. The experimental data for p(8.1GeV) + Au collisions are analyzed within the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model (SMM) for the events with emission of at least two IMFs. It is found that the partition of hot nuclei is specified after expansion to a volume equal to Vt = (2.6+-0.3) Vo, with Vo as the volume at normal density. However, the freeze-out volume is found to be twice as large: Vf = (5+-1) Vo.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Nucl.Phys.

Nuclear multifragmentation and fission: similarity and differences

Thermal multifragmentation of hot nuclei is interpreted as the nuclear liquid--fog phase transition deep inside the spinodal region. The experimental data for p(8.1GeV) + Au collisions are analyzed. It is concluded that the decay process of hot nuclei is characterized by two size parameters: transition state and freeze-out volumes. The similarity between dynamics of fragmentation and ordinary fission is discussed. The IMF emission time is related to the mean rupture time at the multi-scission point, which corresponds to the kinetic freeze-out configuration.Comment: 7 pages, 3 Postscript figures, Proceedings of IWM 2005, Catani

Multifragmentation and nuclear phase transitions (liquid-fog and liquid-gas)

Thermal multifragmentation of hot nuclei is interpreted as the nuclear liquid-fog phase transition. The charge distributions of the intermediate mass fragments produced in p(3.6 GeV) + Au and p(8.1 GeV) + Au collisions are analyzed within the statistical multifragmentation model with the critical temperature for the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition Tc as a free parameter. The analysis presented here provides strong support for a value of Tc > 15 MeV.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Submittet to Proc. of NN2003 to be published in Nucl. Phys.

On the sensitivity of the energy of vanishing flow towards mass asymmetry of colliding nuclei

We demonstrate the role of the mass asymmetry in the energy of vanishing flow by studying asymmetric reactions throughout the periodic table and over entire colliding geometry. Our results, which are almost independent of the system size and as well as of the colliding geometries indicate a sizable effect of the asymmetry of the reaction on the energy of vanishing flow

Freeze-out Configuration in Multifragmentation

The excitation energy and the nuclear density at the time of breakup are extracted for the $\alpha + ^{197}Au$ reaction at beam energies of 1 and 3.6 GeV/nucleon. These quantities are calculated from the average relative velocity of intermediate mass fragments (IMF) at large correlation angles as a function of the multiplicity of IMFs using a statistical model coupled with many-body Coulomb trajectory calculations. The Coulomb component $\vec{v}_{c}$ and thermal component $\vec{v}_{0}$ are found to depend oppositely on the excitation energy, IMFs multiplicity, and freeze-out density. These dependencies allow the determination of both the volume and the mean excitation energy at the time of breakup. It is found that the volume remained constant as the beam energy was increased, with a breakup density of about $\rho_{0}/7$, but that the excitation energy increased $25\%$ to about 5.5 MeV/nucleon.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures available upon resues