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Formation and decay of hot nuclei have been studied in Zn-64 + Ti-nat collisions between 35 and 79 MeV/nucleon. The mass and excitation energy of excited quasiprojectiles are reconstructed from the kinematical characteristics of their decay products. In central collisions, excitation energies larger than 10 MeV/nucleon are reached. Comparisons with theoretical predictions indicate that a fraction of the excitation energy is associated with an isotropic radial flow.

There is no doubt that vegetative patients need the appropriate medical and nursing procedures as well as family involvement, education and counselling. Additional structured stimulation programmes are used for the treatment of coma and vegetative state. The theoretical foundation is derived from animal studies. The relevance of the results for the rehabilitation of head-injured human patients remains questionable, because all animal studies involve the use of cerebral lesions different from those found in human head-injured patients. The studies of human sensory stimulation give more an orientation than a definitive statement. Very recently, hypotheses concerning sensory regulation have begun to be evaluated. Further investigations are required to provide a more definite conclusion.

Epidemiological studies made within the western countries indicate an incidence of 200-300 traumatic head injuries per 100 000 residents each year. Severe head injuries account for 5-25% of all head injuries; 10-14% of all severe head-injured patients develop into a vegetative state, in which a sleep-wake rhythm is apparent, but however in which there is no evidence of awakeness or reactivity to the environment. The most commonly used labels, in the German and international literature, for these patients are 'vegetative state', 'apallic syndrome' and 'coma vigile'. This clinical characterization is not sufficient. It is necessary to employ additional criteria to distinguish subsets of vegetative patients e.g. computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, single photon emission tomography, electroencephalography, brainstem reflexes, evoked potentials, assessment scales, age, premorbid brain disorders. Diagnostic and prognostic parameters must form the basis for various decisions relating to patients' care and intervention.

The BRAHMS collaboration has measured identified particle spectra from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV. Rapidity densities are deduced from fits to the pion and kaon spectra. dN/dy is plotted as a function of rapidity and 4π yields and ratios are calculated. The signed K/π ratios are compared to values obtained at lower energies. We find that K–/π– increases monotonically from the AGS and SPS regimes, while K+/π+ is similar to what was found at the highest $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ at SPS. PACS: 25.75.Dw Particle and resonance production

The preliminary results of the analysis of α-conjugate system 40Ca + 40Ca at 35MeV/A and comparison with results of Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD) calculations are presented. The experiment involving NIMROD-ISIS array was performed at the Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M University and the main goal was to find Bose Einstein Condensate in nuclei.

In-medium phenomena of low density nuclear matter are studied using collisions of 47 A MeV 40 Ar and 64 Zn projectiles with 112Sn and 124Sn target nuclei. Low density equations of state are tested by confronting various models with the data. In-medium cluster binding energies and symmetry density are also studied at low densities. We find that models that account for in-medium effects in general describe the data better than models that do not.

The diagnostics of particle flows in Inertial Confinement Fusion experiments is a delicate issue, due to the fast timescales and to the strong radiative electromagnetic contributions. This makes the discrimination of the different particles produced by the laser-plasma interaction not trivial, and requires the use of several diagnostic techniques. We describe here the diagnostics improvement in the ABC facility. They will provide more detailed analysis of microwave fields and particles originating from the interaction of laser with targets foreseen for future experiments. © 2013 Euratom-ENEA Association.

Two different methods have been employed to determine the plasma temperature in a laser-cluster fusion experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser. In the first, the temperature was derived from time-of-flight data of deuterium ions ejected from exploding D2 or CD4 clusters. In the second, the temperature was measured from the ratio of the rates of two different nuclear fusion reactions occurring in the plasma at the same time: D(d,He3)n and He3(d,p)He4. The temperatures determined by these two methods agree well, which indicates that (i) the ion energy distribution is not significantly distorted when ions travel in the disassembling plasma; (ii) the kinetic energy of deuterium ions, especially the "hottest part" responsible for nuclear fusion, is well described by a near-Maxwellian distribution. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Nucleus-nucleus reaction mechanisms at incident energies below 10 MeV/u are governed by mean field effects. Nucleon-nucleon collisions begin to become important as the energy increases above the Fermi energy. This evolution manifests itself experimentally in the modification of the directed flow of the emitted participant (mid-rapidity) nucleons. In the reaction plane, it is expressed by the flow parameter [1]. Another aspect lies in the azimuthal distribution of particles relative to the reaction plane. At high energies, a maximum in the direction perpendicular to the reaction plane on both sides was named squeeze-out-effect [2]. Conversely, below 100 MeV/u, maxima in the reaction plane have been observed for the light systems of Ar + V : rotation-like effect [3]. It was studied as a Function of energy, impact parameter and emitted particle mass in the collisions of Ar-40 on Al-27 at energies from 36 to 65 MeV/u [4]. The latter study has been extended up to 95 MeV/u and measurements have been made for the Zn-64 + Ni-58 system at 5 energies from 35 to 79 MeV/u.

The multiplicities of γ-rays emitted in the giant dipole resonance decay of 200 Pb have been measured in coincidence with both evaporation residues and fission fragments. The experimental data have been compared with results of statistical calculations which take into account dynamical fission hindrance. The fission probability distribution has been determined as a function of excitation energy.

Light-particle emission from the fission reactions of 63Cu + 92,100Mo and 20Ne + 144,148,154Sm has been studied using the Texas A&M Neutron Ball detector. Linearmomentuum transfers (LMT) were determined from fission-fragment-folding-angle measurements. An increase of neutron multiplicity with apparent linear-momentum transfer was seen. The initial excitation energies of the compound nuclei are estimated from the observed linear-momentum transfer and also reconstructed from the measured multiplicities and average energies of neutrons, protons and α-particles. The results of the two methods are in good agreement. The observed neutron multiplicities show a strong increase with increasing neutron-to-proton ratio of the composite system. The light-particle multiplicities are compared with calculated values using the statistical code GEMINI. The effect of the dynamic fission delay on the total light-particle multiplicities is explored and found to be small.

Results from the BRAHMS collaboration for Au+Au collisions at √ S NN = 200 GeV are presented, focussing on the measurement of the net-proton rapidity distribution, the determination of the pseudorapidity distribution of charged particles and on the rapidity distributions of pions and kaons.

The thermodynamics of excited nuclear systems allows one to explore the second-order phase transition in a two-component quantum mixture. Temperatures and densities are derived from quantum fluctuations of fermions. The pressures are determined from the grand partition function of Fisher's model. Critical scaling of observables is found for systems which differ in neutron to proton concentrations thus constraining the equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter. The derived critical exponent {\beta}= 0.35 \pm 0.01, belongs to the liquid-gas universality class. The critical compressibility factor Pc /{\rho}c Tc increases with increasing neutron number., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

Measurements of the density dependence of the free symmetry energy in low density clustered matter have been extended using the NIMROD multi-detector at Texas A&M University. Thermal coalescence models were employed to extract densities, $\rho$, and temperatures, $T$, for evolving systems formed in collisions of 47 $A$ MeV $^{40}$Ar + $^{112}$Sn,$^{124}$Sn and $^{64}$Zn + $^{112}$Sn, $^{124}$Sn. Densities of $0.03 \leq \rho/\rho_0 \leq 0.2$ and temperatures in the range 5 to 10 MeV have been sampled. The free symmetry energy coefficients are found to be in good agreement with values calculated using a quantum statistical model. Values of the corresponding symmetry energy coefficient are derived from the data using entropies derived from the model.

The NIMROD-ISiS array was used to study the transverse flow of intermediate mass fragments in 35 MeV/nucleon ${}^{70}\mathrm{Zn}+{}^{70}\mathrm{Zn}$, ${}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$, and ${}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ reactions. The intermediate mass fragment flow was previously shown to be sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy. To explore the model dependence of the results, the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics, constrained molecular dynamics, and stochastic mean-field models were each compared to the experimental results to extract information on the form of the symmetry energy. The results demonstrate that sensitivity of the models to the nuclear equation of state can vary significantly based on the treatment of the nuclear dynamics. Despite the differences in the sensitivity, improved agreement with the experimental data is observed for each model with a stiff density dependence of the symmetry energy.

Clustering in low density nuclear matter has been investigated using the NIMROD multi-detector at Texas A&M University. Thermal coalescence modes were employed to extract densities, $\rho$, and temperatures, $T$, for evolving systems formed in collisions of 47 $A$ MeV $^{40}$Ar + $^{112}$Sn,$^{124}$Sn and $^{64}$Zn + $^{112}$Sn, $^{124}$Sn. The yields of $d$, $t$, $^{3}$He, and $^{4}$He have been determined at $\rho$ = 0.002 to 0.032 nucleons/fm$^{3}$ and $T$= 5 to 10 MeV. The experimentally derived equilibrium constants for $\alpha$ particle production are compared with those predicted by a number of astrophysical equations of state. The data provide important new constraints on the model calculations.

We present a novel way of determining the plasma temperature in a laser-cluster fusion experiment on the Texas Petawatt laser, which uses the ratio of the 2.45 MeV neutron and 14.7 MeV proton yields.

The 4[pi] multidetector AMPHORA has been used to measure yield distributions and energy spectra for products of the collisions in the reactions of [sup 40]Ca with [sup 40]Ca at 35 MeV/nucleon. Events of high multiplicity ([ge]10) for which [ge]85% of the total entrance channel atomic number is detected have been isolated and found to result from the most violent collisions which lead to excitation energies near 6 MeV/nucleon. A large fraction of these collisions lead to multifragment final states. A detailed comparison of the experimental data with results of various models indicates that statistical models which allow for expansion of the system or treat the multifragmentation process as a simultaneous disassembly are more successful than normal sequential binary models at reproducing the yield data and the event complexity inherent in the multifragment events. Quantum molecular dynamic (QMD) calculations are found to provide generally good agreement with the data but overestimate the proton and neutron emission. The agreement is significantly improved if an appropriate afterburner is used to deexcite the separated primary QMD fragments. The sensitivity of such hybrid calculations to the assumed matching time between the dynamical calculation and the afterburner has been explored. The experimentally filtered QMD calculations whichmore » provide good agreement with the experimental observables suggest that the most complex events observed in this work come not from the most central collisions, which decay more by light particle emission, but from a region of impact parameter [ital b]/[ital b][sub max]=0.5. This suggests that angular momentum effects play an important role in the multifragment decay modes. A comparison of the present results with those for projectile fragmentation in intermediate impact parameter collisions of 600 MeV/nucleon [sup 197]Au with Cu indicates that a similar multifragmenting system is produced in the two very different reaction systems.« less

The azimuthal distributions of light particles relative to the reaction plane have been measured for several bins of experimentally estimated impact parameters in the reactions of Zn-64 + Ni-58 at energies between 35 and 79 MeV/u. An in-plane enhancement for mid-rapidity Z= 1, 2, 3 particles is observed at low incident energy but gradually evolves to out-of-plane enhancement (squeeze-out effect) with increasing energy. This evolution depends on the impact parameter in a way similar to the flow parameter. The energies for this system at which the azimuthal distribution is uniform are lower than the corresponding balance energies.

Excitation energy depositions in the reactions of 40[ital A] MeV [sup 40]Ar with [sup 232]Th have been determined from measurements of neutron multiplicities in coincidence with mass identified heavy reaction products. For the most central collisions the derived excitation energies of 880 MeV are 200--300 MeV above previous estimates and in excellent agreement with momentum transfer systematics. Heavy evaporation residues are observed for these collisions indicating apparent dynamic delays in the fission channel of (1--5)[times]10[sup [minus]20] s. While a massive-transfer simulation incorporating preequilibrium emission is in generally good agreement with the experimental results evidence is also found for strongly damped collisions.

The particle and gamma decay from 142Nd nuclei produced at E ∗ = 150 MeV by 16O + 126Te and 22Ne + 120Sn reactions were studied. The measured gamma ray spectra were analyzed to derive the GDR centroid and width parameters, which were found to be the same for both systems. No entrance channel effects were seen in the particle and gamma emission spectra in these systems.

Shapes consisting of a series of pear-like bodies surrounding an inner joined sphere are assumed to be those associated with symmetric fission or fragmentation into two or more fragments. The shapes evolve smoothly from that of an initial spherical nucleus to the scission point. The shapes are calculated using a generalization of the cassinian ovaloid shape parameterization, which has been demonstrated to be a good approximation for binary fission. Using this parameterization, fission barriers have been calculated for 2-, 3-, 4-, 6- and 8-fold multi-fragment final states. Proximity effects are included. The temperature dependence of these fission barriers is also calculated. The importance of nuclear dynamics in determining the range in which static barriers are sampled is discussed.

We have measured the distributions of protons and deuterons produced in the 20% most central Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) ({radical}(s{sub N{sub N}})=200 GeV) over a very wide range of transverse and longitudinal momentum. Near midrapidity we have also measured the distribution of antiprotons and antideuterons. We present our results in the context of coalescence models. In particular, we extract the ''homogeneity volume'' and the average phase-space density for protons and antiprotons. Near central rapidity the coalescence parameter B{sub 2}(p{sub T}) and the space-averaged phase-space density (p{sub T}) are very similar for both protons and antiprotons. For protons we see little variation of either B{sub 2}(p{sub T}) or the space-averaged phase-space density as the rapidity increases from 0 to 3. However, these quantities depend strongly on p{sub T} at all rapidities. These results are in contrast to data from lower-energy collisions where the proton and antiproton phase-space densities are different at y=0, and both B{sub 2} and depend strongly on rapidity.

The transverse flow and relative midrapidity yield of isotopically identified light charged particles (LCPs) has been examined for the 35 MeV/nucleon ${}^{70}\mathrm{Zn}+{}^{70}\mathrm{Zn}$, ${}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$, and ${}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ systems. A large enhancement of the midrapidity yield of the LCPs was observed relative to the yield near the projectile rapidity. In particular, this enhancement was increased for the more neutron-rich LCPs demonstrating a preference for the production of neutron-rich fragments in the midrapidity region. Additionally, the transverse flow of the LCPs was extracted, which provides insight into the average movement of the particles in the midrapidity region. Isotopic and isobaric effects were observed in the transverse flow of the fragments. In both cases, the transverse flow was shown to decrease with an increasing neutron content in the fragments. A clear inverse relationship between the transverse flow and the relative midrapidity yield is shown. The increased relative midrapidity emission produces a decreased transverse flow. The stochastic mean-field model was used for comparison to the experimental data. The results showed that the model was able to reproduce the general isotopic and isobaric trends for the midrapidity emission and transverse flow. The sensitivity of these observables to the density dependence of the symmetry energy was explored. The results indicate that the transverse flow and midrapidity emission of the LCPs are sensitive to the denisty dependence of the symmetry energy.

A time‐of‐flight spectrometer with the BigSol superconducting solenoid at Texas A&M was used to investigate the possibility to produce heavy and superheavy nuclei by using two body collisions involving heavy projectiles and targets. The reaction 197Au+232Th at 7.5 AMeV is studied in this work. Preliminary results for the yields of heavy nuclei are presented.

In medium binding energies and Mott points for $d$, $t$, $^3$He and $\alpha$ clusters in low density nuclear matter have been determined at specific combinations of temperature and density in low density nuclear matter produced in collisions of 47$A$ MeV $^{40}$Ar and $^{64}$Zn projectiles with $^{112}$Sn and $^{124}$Sn target nuclei. The experimentally derived values of the in medium modified binding energies are in good agreement with recent theoretical predictions based upon the implementation of Pauli blocking effects in a quantum statistical approach., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

The multiplicities of p and \ensuremath{\alpha} particles detected in coincidence with fragments emitted in fully relaxed collisions in the reactions of 18.5A MeV $^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$${+}^{48}$Ti have been measured for different exit channel mass asymmetries. A kinematic source analysis of the spectra and angular distributions of the light particles has been used to separate the total multiplicities into prescission and postscission contributions. From these results, the excitation energies at scission are determined using an empirical technique based upon previous measurements of light charged particle multiplicities observed in coincidence with evaporation residues. These excitation energies are found to decrease from \ensuremath{\sim}400 MeV to 110 MeV as the fragment mass asymmetry, ${\mathit{A}}_{\mathit{H}}$/${\mathit{A}}_{\mathit{L}}$, varies from 4.8 to 1.0. A corresponding increase of the mean lifetime of the scissioning nucleus from \ensuremath{\sim}5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}22}$ s to \ensuremath{\sim}1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}20}$ s is derived using calculated statistical model decay widths. The extent to which this variation of lifetime with mass asymmetry may be attributed to completely damped deep inelastic collisions or to dynamic delays in the decay of a compound nucleus is discussed as is the need for inclusion of dynamics in the deexcitation calculations for hot nuclei. Observed three fragment events are also discussed.

The transverse flow of intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) has been investigated for the 35 MeV/u ${}^{70}\mathrm{Zn}+{}^{70}\mathrm{Zn}$, ${}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$, and ${}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}+{}^{64}\mathrm{Ni}$ systems. A transition from the IMF transverse flow strongly depending on the mass of the system, in the most violent collisions, to a dependence on the charge of the system, for the peripheral reactions, is shown. This transition was shown to be sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy using the antisymmetrized molecular-dynamics model. The results present an observable, the IMF transverse flow, that can be used to probe the nuclear equation of state. Comparison with the simulation demonstrated a preference for a stiff density dependence of the symmetry energy.

Isotope yields have been analyzed within the framework of a Modified Fisher Model to study the power law yield distribution of isotopes in the multifragmentation regime. Using the ratio of the mass dependent symmetry energy coefficient relative to the temperature, $a_{sym}/T$, extracted in previous work and that of the pairing term, $a_{p}/T$, extracted from this work, and assuming that both reflect secondary decay processes, the experimentally observed isotope yields have been corrected for these effects. For a given I = N - Z value, the corrected yields of isotopes relative to the yield of $^{12}C$ show a power law distribution, $Y(N,Z)/Y(^{12}C) \sim A^{-\tau}$, in the mass range of $1 \le A \le 30$ and the distributions are almost identical for the different reactions studied. The observed power law distributions change systematically when I of the isotopes changes and the extracted $\tau$ value decreases from 3.9 to 1.0 as I increases from -1 to 3. These observations are well reproduced by a simple de-excitation model, which the power law distribution of the primary isotopes is determined to $\tau^{prim} = 2.4 \pm 0.2$, suggesting that the disassembling system at the time of the fragment formation is indeed at or very near the critical point., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

The critical phenomenon of the liquid-gas phase transition has been investigated in the reactions $^{78,86}\mathrm{Kr}$$+$$^{58,64}\mathrm{Ni}$ at beam energy of 35 MeV/nucleon using the Landau free energy approach with isospin asymmetry as an order parameter. Fits to the free energy of fragments showed three minima, suggesting that the system is in the regime of a first-order phase transition. The relation m $=$ \ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\partial}F/\ensuremath{\partial}H, which defines the order parameter and its conjugate field $H$, has been experimentally verified from the linear dependence of the mirror nuclei yield ratio data on the isospin asymmetry of the source. The slope parameter, which is a measure of the distance from a critical temperature, showed a systematic decrease with increasing excitation energy of the source. Within the framework of the Landau free energy approach, isoscaling provided similar results as obtained from the analysis of mirror nuclei yield ratio data. In the present work, it is shown that the external field is primarily related to the minimum of the free energy, which implies a modification of the source concentration \ensuremath{\Delta} used in isospin studies.

The symmetry energy of nuclear matter is a fundamental ingredient in the investigation of exotic nuclei, heavy-ion collisions and astrophysical phenomena. New data from heavy-ion collisions can be used to extract the free symmetry energy and the internal symmetry energy at subsaturation densities and temperatures below 10 MeV. Conventional theoretical calculations of the symmetry energy based on mean-field approaches fail to give the correct low-temperature, low-density limit that is governed by correlations, in particular by the appearance of bound states. A recently developed quantum statistical (QS) approach that takes the formation of clusters into account predicts symmetry energies that are in very good agreement with the experimental data. A consistent description of the symmetry energy is given that joins the correct low-density limit with quasiparticle approaches valid near the saturation density., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

The relative isobaric yields of fragments produced in a series of heavy-ion-induced multifragmentation reactions have been analyzed in the framework of a modified Fisher model, primarily to determine the ratio of the symmetry energy coefficient to the temperature, a(sym)/T, as a function of fragment mass A. The extracted values increase from 5 to similar to 16 as A increases from 9 to 37. These values have been compared to the results of calculations using the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) model together with the statistical decay code GEMINI. The calculated ratios are in good agreement with those extracted from the experiment. In contrast, the values extracted from the ratios of the primary isobars from the AMD model calculation are similar to 4 to 5 and show little variation with A. This observation indicates that the value of the symmetry energy coefficient derived from final fragment observables may be significantly different than the actual value at the time of fragment formation. The experimentally observed pairing effect is also studied within the same simulations. The Coulomb coefficient is also discussed.

The ratio of the symmetry energy coefficient to temperature, $a_sym/T$, in Fermi energy heavy ion collisions, has been experimentally extracted as a function of the fragment atomic number using isoscaling parameters and the variance of the isotope distributions. The extracted values have been compared to the results of calculations made with an Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD) model employing a statistical decay code to account for deexcitation of excited primary fragments. The experimental values are in good agreement with the values calculated but are significantly different from those characterizing the yields of the primary AMD fragments., 12 pages, 6 figures

Electronic stopping powers of heavy ions in several media are deduced from the corresponding proton data by using new effective charge parameterizations. Separate sets of parameters were deduced for solid and gaseous materials using the available data for heavy ions in the energy range from 0.1 to 15 MeV/nucleon. Using these results, predictions are made for stopping powers of heavy and superheavy elements with Z = 100–130 in the energy range of 0.5–15 MeV/nucleon.

The formation of clusters in low density matter formed in near Fermi energy heavy ion collisions has been investigated using the NIMROD multi‐detector at Texas A&M University. Emphasis is on elucidation of the low density equation of state. Temperature and density dependent symmetry free energies derived from isoscaling analyses of the yields of nuclei with A≤4 are far above those obtained in common effective interaction calculations, reflecting the cluster formation. A possible extensionof the experimental techniques to investigations of nuclear Bose condensates is also discussed.

Recent heavy ion reaction studies aimed at elucidating the properties of low density matter produced in near Fermi-energies are discussed. At the lowest densities and temperatures large alpha mass fractions are observed. The symmetry free energies derived from isoscaling analyses are far above those obtained in common effective interaction calculations, reflecting cluster formation, primarily of alpha particles, not included in such calculations. Theoretical modeling of these results requires the consideration of cluster formation and medium modifications of cluster properties.

We discuss experimental evidence for a nuclear phase transition driven by the different concentration of neutrons to protons. Different ratios of the neutron to proton concentrations lead to different critical points for the phase transition. This is analogous to the phase transitions occurring in 4He-3He liquid mixtures. We present experimental results which reveal the N/A (or Z/A) dependence of the phase transition and discuss possible implications of these observations in terms of the Landau Free Energy description of critical phenomena., Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures

A new thermometer based on fragment momentum fluctuations is presented. This thermometer exhibited residual contamination from the collective motion of the fragments along the beam axis. For this reason, the transverse direction has been explored. Additionally, a mass dependence was observed for this thermometer. This mass dependence may be the result of the Fermi momentum of nucleons or the different properties of the fragments (binding energy, spin, etc.) which might be more sensitive to different densities and temperatures of the exploding fragments. We expect some of these aspects to be smaller for protons (and/or neutrons); consequently, the proton transverse momentum fluctuations were used to investigate the temperature dependence of the source.

The emission of intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) has been studied using the 4π array, AMPHORA. The energy spectra, the angular distributions, the multiplicities, and the charge distributions are studied inclusively as well as in coincidence with projectile-like fragments (PLFs) and other fragments. The low-energy component of the inclusive fragment spectra can be reproduced by a statistical binary decay code GEMINI, although the calculated absolute cross sections are an order of magnitude smaller than the experimental IMF cross sections. At intermediate angles the fragments are dominated by IMFs with Z ≤ 10 both for inclusive and coincidence events and the energy spectra of the fragments show hard components which cannot be explained as statistical emission. For this non-equilibrium component strong azimuthal angular correlations are observed in IMF-PLF and IMF-IMF coincidence events. Both the energy spectra and the azimuthal angular correlations of the non-equilibrium component are well reproduced by an extended classical dynamical model.

The multifragment emission of completely characterized'' events in the {sup 40}Ca+{sup 40}Ca system at 35 MeV/nucleon has been compared to the predictions of several models. The observed multifragment emission is not in agreement with models based on conventional statistical binary decay, but is in agreement with both a simultaneous multifragmentation model and a sequential emission model in which expansion is treated.

Properties of medium mass nuclei having excitation energies of 1.5 to 6 MeV/u have been probed in measurements of the multiplicities and energy spectra of emitted particles and fragments. The particle spectra indicate a progressive reduction of both the level density parameter, a, and the emission barriers as the excitation energy is increased. The evolution of the dominant de-excitation modes, observed with increasing excitation energy, is found to be qualitatively consistent with the predictions of statistical models. There is, however, evidence that dynamics may play an important role in fragment emission processes. At energies of 6 MeV/u multifragment emission is an important process. Varying theoretical models predict such multifragment events but differ in their predictions of the probability of such events.

Energy spectra of light charged particles (Z = 1,2) observed at θLP = 5°−150° in coincidence with fragments of Z = 5–14 at θF = ±9° are examined. The fragment-energy spectra show two components, one with a projectile-like velocity and another with a much lower velocity. Light particles in coincidence with fragments of projectile-like velocity show a very strong left-right asymmetry in the forward hemisphere. At very forward angles the asymmetry is essentially dominated by a recoil effect of the ejectile emitted from the fragment. The asymmetry at intermediate angles (27°⩽ θ ⩽ 60°) shows a strong dependence on the charge of the fragments and the asymmetry is similar among those for the composite particles, whereas the asymmetry is much smaller for protons. Light particles in coincidence with the lower-energy component of the fragment spectra show much less asymmetry. For such fragments α-particle energy spectra are reproduced without an intermediate-velocity source of high apparent temperature, whereas this high temperature source is needed for the proton spectra. These facts may indicate that the dominant emission mechanism of the intermediate-velocity protons and α-particles is different. Possible mechanisms for the production of these particles are discussed.

In heavy-ion collisions, isoscaling provides a method for studying the evolution of nuclear symmetry energy as a function of excitation energy. One challenge in using isoscaling is to accurately determine the neutron-to-proton ratio ($N/Z$) of the fragmenting source. Isoscaling results are presented for the reactions of $^{86,78}\mathrm{Kr}+^{64,58}\mathrm{Ni}$ at 35 MeV/nucleon taken on the NIMROD-ISiS array at Texas A University. The $N/Z$ of the source was calculated from the isotopically identified fragments and experimentally measured neutrons emitted from reconstructed quasiprojectiles. These data exhibit isoscaling for elements with $Z=1\text{\ensuremath{-}}17$ over a broad range of isotopes. The isoscaling parameter $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is shown to increase with increasing difference in the neutron composition (\ensuremath{\Delta}) of the compared sources. For a selected \ensuremath{\Delta}, the ratio $\ensuremath{\alpha}$/\ensuremath{\Delta} is also shown to decrease with increasing excitation energy. This may reflect a corresponding decrease in the nuclear symmetry energy.

Interest in the influence of the neutron-to-proton (N/Z) ratio on multifragmenting nuclei has demanded an improvement in the capabilities of multi-detector arrays as well as the companion analysis methods. The particle identification method used in the NIMROD-ISiS 4 $\pi$ array is described. Performance of the detectors and the analysis method are presented for the reaction of 86Kr+64Ni at 35MeV/u., Comment: Conference procedings

In this article we present a new experimental approach for production of heavy and superheavy elements (HE, SHE). Nuclear reactions at low incident energies induced by heavy ion (HI) projectiles on fissile target nuclei are investigated. Dedicated detection setup is presented and the preliminary results for the reaction 197Au(7.5 MeV /u) + 232Th, studied at the Cyclotron Institute of Texas A&M University, are given.

We explore the abundance of light clusters in asymmetric nuclear matter at subsaturation density. With increasing density, binding energies and wave functions are modified due to medium effects. The method of Albergo, Costa, Costanzo and Rubbino (ACCR) for determining the temperature and free nucleon density of a disassembling hot nuclear source from fragment yields is modified to include, in addition to Coulomb effects and flow, also effects of medium modifications of cluster properties, which become of importance when the nuclear matter density is above 10$^{-3}$ fm$^{-3}$. We show how the analysis of cluster yields, to infer temperature and nucleon densities, is modified if the shifts in binding energies of in medium clusters are included. While, at low densities, the temperature calculated from given yields changes only modestly if medium effects are taken into account, larger discrepancies are observed when the nucleon densities are determined from measured yields., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

The luminous response to α, β and γ rays from radioactive sources and E/A  20 MeV, 3  Z  7 heavy ions of KI(Eu) crystals was studied. Measurements include optical spectral response and Eu concentration dependence. When coupled with a transmission Si surface-barrier E detector, the light-output response L observed from an optimized KI(Eu) sample is found to provide adequate Z resolution in a ΔE vs. L plot. A comparison with the results of a similar study on KBr(Eu) and CsI(Tl) crystals is presented.