J. Winkelbauer

Constraints on the density dependence of the symmetry energy from heavy-ion collisions

Abstract Constraints on the equation of state (EoS) for symmetric matter (equal neutron and proton numbers) have been extracted from energetic collisions of heavy ions over a range of energies. Collisions of neutron-deficient and neutron-rich heavy ions now provide initial constraints on the EoS of neutron-rich matter at subsaturation densities from isospin diffusions and neutron proton ratios. This article reviews the experimental constraints on the density dependence of symmetry energy at subsaturation density.

Results of the ASY-EOS experiment at GSI : the symmetry energy at suprasaturation density

Directed and elliptic flows of neutrons and light charged particles were measured for the reaction 197Au+197Au at 400 MeV/nucleon incident energy within the ASY-EOS experimental campaign at the GSI laboratory. The detection system consisted of the Large Area Neutron Detector LAND, combined with parts of the CHIMERA multidetector, of the ALADIN Time-of-flight Wall, and of the Washington-University Microball detector. The latter three arrays were used for the event characterization and reaction-plane reconstruction. In addition, an array of triple telescopes, KRATTA, was used for complementary measurements of the isotopic composition and flows of light charged particles. From the comparison of the elliptic flow ratio of neutrons with respect to charged particles with UrQMD predictions, a value \gamma = 0.72 \pm 0.19 is obtained for the power-law coefficient describing the density dependence of the potential part in the parametrization of the symmetry energy. It represents a new and more stringent constraint for the regime of supra-saturation density and confirms, with a considerably smaller uncertainty, the moderately soft to linear density dependence deduced from the earlier FOPI-LAND data. The densities probed are shown to reach beyond twice saturation.

Democratic Decay of 6Be Exposed by Correlations

The interaction of an E/A=70-MeV (7)Be beam with a Be target was used to populate levels in (6)Be following neutron knockout reactions. The three-body decay of the ground and first excited states into the α+p+p exit channel were detected in the High Resolution Array. Precise three-body correlations extracted from the experimental data allowed us to obtain insight into the mechanism of the three-body democratic decay. The correlation data are in good agreement with a three-cluster-model calculation and thus validate this theoretical approach over a broad energy range.

Democratic Decay ofBe6Exposed by Correlations

The interaction of an E/A=70-MeV (7)Be beam with a Be target was used to populate levels in (6)Be following neutron knockout reactions. The three-body decay of the ground and first excited states into the α+p+p exit channel were detected in the High Resolution Array. Precise three-body correlations extracted from the experimental data allowed us to obtain insight into the mechanism of the three-body democratic decay. The correlation data are in good agreement with a three-cluster-model calculation and thus validate this theoretical approach over a broad energy range.

Probing effective nucleon masses with heavy-ion collisions

It has been generally accepted that momentum-dependent potentials for neutrons and protons at energies well away from the Fermi surface cause both to behave as if their inertial masses are effectively 70% of the vacuum values. This similarity in effective masses may no longer hold in dense neutron-rich regions within neutron stars, core-collapse supernovas, and nuclear collisions. There differences in the momentum-dependent symmetry potentials may cause neutron and proton effective masses to differ significantly. We investigate this effect by measuring the energy spectra of neutrons, protons, and charged particles emitted in

Observation of Long-Range Three-Body Coulomb Effects in the Decay of Ne 16

^{112}\mathrm{Sn}+^{112}\mathrm{Sn}

Mass Measurement of 56Sc Reveals a Small A = 56 Odd-Even Mass Staggering, Implying a Cooler Accreted Neutron Star Crust

and

Mass Measurements Demonstrate a Strong N = 28 Shell Gap in Argon

^{124}\mathrm{Sn}+^{124}\mathrm{Sn}

Probing elastic and inelastic breakup contributions to intermediate-energy two-proton removal reactions

collisions at

Time-of-flight mass measurements of neutron-rich chromium isotopes up to N = 40 and implications for the accreted neutron star crust

{E}_{\mathrm{beam}}/A=50