Correlation studies of fission fragment neutron multiplicities

We calculate neutron multiplicities from fission fragments with specified mass numbers for events having a specified total fragment kinetic energy. The shape evolution from the initial compound nucleus to the scission configurations is obtained with the Metropolis walk method on the five-dimensional potential-energy landscape, calculated with the macroscopic-microscopic method for the three-quadratic-surface shape family. Shape-dependent microscopic level densities are used to guide the random walk, to partition the intrinsic excitation energy between the two proto-fragments at scission, and to determine the spectrum of the neutrons evaporated from the fragments. The contributions to the total excitation energy of the resulting fragments from statistical excitation and shape distortion at scission is studied. Good agreement is obtained with available experimental data on neutron multiplicities in correlation with fission fragments from $^{235}$U(n$_{\rm th}$,f). At higher neutron energies a superlong fission mode appears which affects the dependence of the observables on the total fragment kinetic energy.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

Dynamical simulation of DCC formation in Bjorken rods

Using a semi-classical treatment of the linear sigma model, we simulate the dynamical evolution of an initially hot cylindrical rod endowed with a longitudinal Bjorken scaling expansion (a ``Bjorken rod''). The field equation is propagated until full decoupling has occurred and the asymptotic many-body state of free pions is then obtained by a suitable Fourier decomposition of the field and a subsequent stochastic determination of the number of quanta in each elementary mode. The resulting transverse pion spectrum exhibits visible enhancements below 200 MeV due to the parametric amplification caused by the oscillatory relaxation of the chiral order parameter. Ensembles of such final states are subjected to various event-by-event analyses. The factorial moments of the multiplicity distribution suggest that the soft pions are non-statistical. Furthermore, their emission patterns exhibit azimuthal correlations that have a bearing on the domain size in the source. Finally, the distribution of the neutral pion fraction shows a significant broadening for the soft pions which grows steadily as the number of azimuthal segments is increased. All of these features are indicative of disoriented chiral condensates and it may be interesting to apply similar analyses to actual data from high-energy nuclear collision experiments.Comment: 38 pages total, incl 26 ps figures ([email protected]

Effect of nucleon exchange on projectile multifragmentation in the reactions of 28Si + 112Sn and 124Sn at 30 and 50 MeV/nucleon

Multifragmentation of quasiprojectiles was studied in reactions of 28Si beam with 112Sn and 124Sn targets at projectile energies 30 and 50 MeV/nucleon. The quasiprojectile observables were reconstructed using isotopically identified charged particles with Z_f <= 5 detected at forward angles. The nucleon exchange between projectile and target was investigated using isospin and excitation energy of reconstructed quasiprojectile. For events with total reconstructed charge equal to the charge of the beam (Z_tot = 14) the influence of beam energy and target isospin on neutron transfer was studied in detail. Simulations employing subsequently model of deep inelastic transfer, statistical model of multifragmentation and software replica of FAUST detector array were carried out. A concept of deep inelastic transfer provides good description of production of highly excited quasiprojectiles. The isospin and excitation energy of quasiprojectile were described with good overall agreement. The fragment multiplicity, charge and isospin were reproduced satisfactorily. The range of contributing impact parameters was determined using backtracing procedure.Comment: 11 pages, 8 Postscript figures, LaTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev. C ( Dec 2000

Enhanced Event-by-Event Fluctuations in Pion Multiplicity as a Signal of Disoriented Chiral Condensates at RHIC

The factorial moments of the pion multiplicity distributions are calculated with HIJING and UrQMD and found to be independent of the pT range included, in contrast to recent simulations with the linear sigma model which leads to large enhancements for pions with transverse kinetic energies below 200 MeV. This supports the use of the ratio of the factorial moments of low and high pT pions as a signal of ``new'' physics at low momentum scales, such as the formation of disoriented chiral condensates.Comment: 4 pages total, incl 4 eps figures ([email protected]

Effect of friction on disoriented chiral condensate formation

We have investigated the effect of friction on the DCC domain formation. We solve the Newton equation of motion for the O(4) fields, with quenched initial condition. The initial fields are randomly distributed in a Gaussian form. In one dimensional expansion, on the average, large DCC domains can not be formed. However, in some particular orbits, large instabilities may occur. This possibility also greatly diminishes with the introduction of friction. But, if the friction is large, the system may be overdamped and then, there is a possibility of large DCC domain formation in some events.Comment: 9 pages, including figure

Near-threshold K+K^{+} Production in Heavy-ion Collisions

Within a hadronic transport model we study in detail contributions to kaon yields and momentum spectra from various baryon (resonance)-baryon (resonance) and $\pi N$ interactions in heavy-ion collisions at beam energies near the free-space kaon production threshold. It is found that the finite lifetime of baryon resonances affects significantly the shape of kaon spectra, and the high energy parts of the kaon spectra are dominated by kaons from $\pi N\rightarrow \Lambda K^{+}$ processes. $N^{*}(1440)$ resonances are found to contribute about 10\% to the kaon yield. Effects of boosting the Fermi momentum distributions of the two colliding nuclei into their center of mass frame, centrality of the reaction as well as the nuclear equation of state on kaon yields and spectra are also discussed. Model calculations on $K^{+}$, $\pi^{+}$ and $\pi^{-}$ spectra for the reaction of Au+Au at $E_{beam}/A= 1.0$ GeV are compared with the experimental data from the KaoS collaboration.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures available upon request. TAMU preprint #940403

Pion Breather States in QCD

We describe a class of pionic breather solutions (PBS) which appear in the chiral lagrangian description of low-energy QCD. These configurations are long-lived, with lifetimes greater than $10^3$ fm/c, and could arise as remnants of disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) formation at RHIC. We show that the chiral lagrangian equations of motion for a uniformly isospin-polarized domain reduce to those of the sine-gordon model. Consequently, our solutions are directly related to the breather solutions of sine-gordon theory in 3+1 dimensions. We investigate the possibility of PBS formation from multiple domains of DCC, and show that the probability of formation is non-negligible.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

On the microscopic dynamics of DCC formation

The dynamics of the pion field after a quench is studied in the framework of the linear sigma model. Our aim is to determine to what extent the amplified pion field resembles the DCC picture originally proposed in the early '90s. We present the result of a computer experiment where, among other things, we study in detail the correlation between isospin orientations of the distinct modes of the field. We show that this correlation is absent. In a sense, the distinct modes behave as distinct DCCs. The implications of this observation are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, Latex2e, 7 figures in EPS, uses (included) boldgreek.sty and standard epsf package

Correlated Prompt Fission Data in Transport Simulations

Detailed information on the fission process can be inferred from the observation, modeling and theoretical understanding of prompt fission neutron and $\gamma$-ray~observables. Beyond simple average quantities, the study of distributions and correlations in prompt data, e.g., multiplicity-dependent neutron and \gray~spectra, angular distributions of the emitted particles, $n$-$n$, $n$-$\gamma$, and $\gamma$-$\gamma$~correlations, can place stringent constraints on fission models and parameters that would otherwise be free to be tuned separately to represent individual fission observables. The FREYA~and CGMF~codes have been developed to follow the sequential emissions of prompt neutrons and $\gamma$-rays~from the initial excited fission fragments produced right after scission. Both codes implement Monte Carlo techniques to sample initial fission fragment configurations in mass, charge and kinetic energy and sample probabilities of neutron and $\gamma$~emission at each stage of the decay. This approach naturally leads to using simple but powerful statistical techniques to infer distributions and correlations among many observables and model parameters. The comparison of model calculations with experimental data provides a rich arena for testing various nuclear physics models such as those related to the nuclear structure and level densities of neutron-rich nuclei, the $\gamma$-ray~strength functions of dipole and quadrupole transitions, the mechanism for dividing the excitation energy between the two nascent fragments near scission, and the mechanisms behind the production of angular momentum in the fragments, etc. Beyond the obvious interest from a fundamental physics point of view, such studies are also important for addressing data needs in various nuclear applications. (See text for full abstract.)Comment: 39 pages, 57 figure files, published in Eur. Phys. J. A, reference added this versio