Eur. Phys. J. A (2006) 30: 71-79
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-10108-7

Dynamics and Thermodynamics with Nuclear Degrees of Freedom

Systematics of fragment observables

LPC Caen (IN2P3-CNRS/Ensicaen et Université), F-14050, Caen Cédex, France

^* e-mail: tamain@in2p3.fr

Received: 25 April 2006
Accepted: 5 June 2006
Published online: 19 October 2006

Abstract

Multifragmentation is observed in many reaction types: light-ion-induced reactions at large incident energies (in the GeV region), central heavy-ion collisions from 30 to 100MeV/u, and peripheral heavy-ion collisions between 30 and 1000MeV/u or above. When nucleus-nucleus collisions are considered, another entrance channel parameter is the corresponding mass asymmetry. The first question which is addressed in this contribution is: do we observe similar reactions in each case? Multifragmentation may be related to a phase transition of nuclear matter. Some others features indicate that dynamical features are dominant. It is a priori possible that the underlying mechanisms are different in proton- and nucleus-induced reactions, in central and in peripheral collisions, at limited and at large bombarding energies. In order to see to what extent they can reflect similar behaviour, it is useful to compare the results of various reactions. The observables can be the fragment multiplicity, the mass distributions or the kinematical properties. In this contribution, we are looking for such general features. We will limit the discussion to the observations themselves, rather than the interpretation, which is the subject of numerous entries in this volume. The experimental results indicate that multifragmentation exhibits at the same time universal and entrance-channel-dependent properties.