Critical behaviour in Au fragmentation at 10.7A GeV

The complete charge distribution of products from Au nuclei fragmenting in nuclear emulsion at 10.7A GeV has been measured. Multiplicities of produced particles and particles associated with the target source are used to select peripheral and central events. A statistical analysis, based on event-by-event charge distributions, show that a population of subcritical, critical and supercritical events, i.e. a phase transition like behaviour, is observed among peripheral collisions.