Analysis of central events in the reaction of 16O and 36Ar with emulsion at 210 and 65 MeV per nucleon

Abstract For the reaction of 16 O and 36 Ar with the AgBr component of emulsion at 210±10 MeV and 65±15 MeV per nucleon, respectively, the fragments' charge and emission angle have been measured. An additional momentum-flow-tensor analysis provides a strict criterion to distinguish the very central from peripheral events. The analysis reveals that complete stopping is possible in both reactions. It is also shown that an analysis of the data with respect to the criticality of the fragmentation process based solely on central events might lead to conclusions different from those inferred so far from inclusive data.