Dynamics of the Multifragmentation of 1AGeV Gold on Carbon

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

An exclusive study of the interaction of 1A GeV Au with C shows a separability into two stages: a prompt stage involving emission of most Z0ex0ex=0ex0ex1 and some Z0ex0ex=0ex0ex2 particles and a second stage involving the decay of an equilibrated remnant, which typically undergoes multifragmentation. The mean mass, charge, excitation energy, and the initial temperature Tᵢ of the remnant have been determined as a function of the total charge multiplicity, m, as has the freeze-out temperature Tf. Both Tᵢ and Tf increase linearly with m and their values at the critical point have been determined. Tf rises monotonically with excitation energy as expected for a continuous phase transition.