A. Bonasera

Constrained molecular dynamics approach to fermionic systems

We propose a Constraint Molecular Dynamics model for Fermionic system. In this approach the equations of motion of wave packets for the nuclear many-body problem are solved by imposing that the one-body occupation probability

Thermodynamical features of multifragmentation in peripheral Au + Au Collisions at 35 A.MeV

\bar{f}(r,p,t)

Symmetry Energy of Dilute Warm Nuclear Matter

can assume only values less or equal to 1. This condition reflects the Fermionic nature of the studied systems and it is implemented with a fast algorithm which allows also the study of the heaviest colliding system. The parameters of the model have been chosen to reproduce the average binding energy and radii of nuclei in the mass region

Zero-temperature relaxation time. A test for the collision integral☆

A=30\sim 208

Laboratory Tests of Low Density Astrophysical Nuclear Equations of State

. Some comparison to data is given.

Measuring the temperature of hot nuclear fragments

Abstract The distribution of fragments produced in events involving the multifragmentation of excited sources is studied for peripheral Au + Au reactions at 35 A MeV. The Quasi-Projectile has been reconstructed from its de-excitation products. An isotropic emission in its rest frame has been observed, indicating that an equilibrated system has been formed. The excitation energy of the Quasi-Projectile has been determined via calorimetry. A new event by event effective thermometer is proposed based on the energy balance. A peak in the energy fluctuations is observed related to the heat capacity suggesting that the system undergoes a liquid-gas type phase transition at an excitation energy ∼ 5 A MeV and a temperature 4–6 MeV, dependent on the freeze-out hypothesis. By analyzing different regions of the Campiplot, the events associated with the liquid and gas phases as well as the critical region are thermodynamically characterized. The critical exponents, τ, β, γ, extracted from the high moments of the charge distribution are consistent with a liquid-gas type phase transition.

Quantum Nature of a Nuclear Phase Transition

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 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.

Microscopic description of dissipative fragmentation

Abstract The collisional relaxation time of a momentum space deformation in nuclei, corresponding to an isoscalar giant mode, is evaluated solving numerically the collision integral with a procedure based on the concept of the mean free path. We apply this procedure to solve the collision integral for two case: (a) the momentum space distribution is divided in parallel ensembles; (b) no division of the momentum space distribution in parallel ensembles is made. The results are compared to an exact calculation, in a frozen Pauli blocking prescription. We show that method (b) is in good agreement to the exact calculation. The parallel ensembles simulation tends to the exact solution for very large atomic mass numbers.

Nuclear matter symmetry energy at 0.03(ρ/ρ0)0.2

Clustering in low density nuclear matter has been investigated using the NIMROD multidetector at Texas A&M University. Thermal coalescence modes were employed to extract densities, ρ, and temperatures, T, for evolving systems formed in collisions of 47A 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 ρ=0.002 to 0.03 nucleons/fm(3) and T=5 to 11 MeV. The experimentally derived equilibrium constants for α 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.

Isobaric Yield Ratios and The Symmetry Energy In Fermi Energy Heavy Ion Reactions

Abstract 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.