Dynamic and Statistical Effects in Light-Ion-Induced Multifragmentation

Light-ion-induced multifragmentation of heavy nuclei provides a unique environment for investigating the heating curve for finite nuclear matter. The disassembly of these hot systems appears to be driven primarily by thermal forces and the effects of angular momentum and the compression/decompression cycle are minimal. In this paper we present caloric curve results from measurements of 4.8 GeV 3He incident on 197Au and compare these with results from heavy-ion studies1–4. In addition, we discuss a search for dynamic effects e. g. shock waves or toroidal-breakup mechanisms in higher energy studies with 5-15 GeV/c protons and π− beams.