2008/01/31 by C. Ducoin, J. Margueron, Ph. Chomaz
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2008.05.015
published as Nucl.Phys.A809:30-64,2008 · 27 pages, 11 figures, Submitted to Nuclear Physics A, Nuclear Physics A In press (2008)
openalex publication_date 2008/06/05 · arxiv created 2008/06/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The nuclear-matter liquid-gas phase transition induces instabilities against finite-size density fluctuations. This has implications for both heavy-ion-collision and compact-star physics. In this paper, we study the clusterization properties of nuclear matter in a scenario of spinodal decomposition, comparing three different approaches: the quantal RPA, its semi-classical limit (Vlasov method), and a hydrodynamical framework. The predictions related to clusterization are qualitatively in good agreement varying the approach and the nuclear interaction. Nevertheless, it is shown that i) the quantum effects reduce the instability zone, and disfavor short-wavelength fluctuations; ii) large differences appear bewteen the two semi-classical approaches, which correspond respectively to a collisionless (Vlasov) and local equilibrium description (hydrodynamics); iii) the isospin-distillation effect is stronger in the local equilibrium framework; iv) important variations between the predicted time-scales of cluster formation appear near the borders of the instability region.