Model-independent tracking of criticality signals in nuclear multifragmentation data

2004/04/30 by J. D. Frankland, A. Chbihi, A. Mignon +53 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Nuclear physics research studies #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #nucl-ex

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevc.71.034607

published as Phys.Rev. C71 (2005) 034607

arxiv created 2004/09/06 · openalex publication_date 2005/03/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We look for signals of criticality in multifragment production in heavy-ion collisions using model-independent universal fluctuations theory. The phenomenon is studied as a function of system size, bombarding energy, and impact parameter over a wide range of INDRA data. For very central collisions (b/b_max<0.1) we find evidence that the largest fragment in each event, Z_max, plays the role of an order parameter, defining two different regimes at low and high incident energy, respectively, according to the scaling properties of its fluctuations. Data for a wide range of system masses and incident energies collapse on to an approximately universal scaling function in each regime for the most central collisions. The forms of the scaling functions for the two regimes are established, and their dependence on the total mass and the bombarding energy is mapped out. Data suggest that these regimes are linked to the disappearance of heavy residues in central collisions.

Citations

• Systematics of complex fragment emission in niobium-induced reactions

Cited by

• Critical behavior in light nuclear systems: Experimental aspects
• Model independent reconstruction of impact parameter distributions for intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

Related

• Universal fluctuations: a new approach to the study of "phase transitions" in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions
• Multifragmentation in Relativistic Heavy Ion Reactions
• Fragment production in central heavy-ion collisions: reconciling the dominance of dynamics with observed phase transition signals through universal fluctuations
• Isoscaling constraining sources' sizes
• Statistical and Dynamical Model Studies of Nuclear Multifragmentation Reactions at Intermediate Energies