Bimodal Behavior of the Heaviest Fragment Distribution in Projectile Fragmentation

E. Bonnet, D. Mercier, B. Borderie, F. Gulminelli, M. F. Rivet, B. Tamain, R. Bougault, A. Chbihi, R. Dayras, J. D. Frankland, E. Galichet, F. Gagnon-Moisan, D. Guinet, P. Lautesse, J. Łukasik, N. Le Neindre, M. Pârlog, E. Rosato, R. Roy, M. Vigilante, J. P. Wieleczko, and B. Zwieglinski (INDRA and ALADIN Collaborations)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 072701 – Published 13 August 2009

Abstract

The charge distribution of the heaviest fragment detected in the decay of quasiprojectiles produced in intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions has been observed to be bimodal. This feature is expected as a generic signal of phase transition in nonextensive systems. In this Letter, we present new analyses of experimental data from Au on Au collisions at 60, 80, and $100 MeV / nucleon$ showing that bimodality is largely independent of the data selection procedure and of entrance channel effects. An estimate of the latent heat of the transition is extracted.

Received 9 December 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.072701

Authors & Affiliations

E. Bonnet^1,*, D. Mercier^2,3, B. Borderie¹, F. Gulminelli², M. F. Rivet¹, B. Tamain², R. Bougault², A. Chbihi⁴, R. Dayras⁵, J. D. Frankland⁴, E. Galichet^1,6, F. Gagnon-Moisan^1,7, D. Guinet³, P. Lautesse³, J. Łukasik⁸, N. Le Neindre², M. Pârlog^2,9, E. Rosato¹⁰, R. Roy⁷, M. Vigilante¹⁰, J. P. Wieleczko⁴, and B. Zwieglinski¹¹ (INDRA and ALADIN Collaborations)

¹Institut de Physique Nucléaire, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Sud 11, F-91406 Orsay cedex, France
²LPC (CNRS/IN2P3, Ensicaen, Université de Caen), F-14050 Caen cedex, France
³Institut de Physique Nucléaire, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-91406 Orsay cedex, France
⁴GANIL (DSM-CEA/CNRS/IN2P3), F-14076 Caen cedex, France
⁵IRFU/SPhN, CEA Saclay, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette cedex, France
⁶Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, F-75141 Paris cedex 03, France
⁷Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire, Département de Physique, de Génie Physique et d’Optique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4
⁸Institute of Nuclear Physics IFJ-PAN, PL-31342 Kraków, Poland
⁹National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, RO-76900 Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
¹⁰Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Sezione INFN, Università di Napoli “Federico II,” I-80126 Napoli, Italy
¹¹The Andrzej Soltan Institute for Nuclear Studies, PL-00681 Warsaw, Poland

^*Present address: GANIL (DSM-CEA/CNRS/IN2P3),F-14076 Caen cedex, France.

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Vol. 103, Iss. 7 — 14 August 2009

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