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Title: Empirical observations on the unpredictable behavior of nuclear matter (in English;French)

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10132174· OSTI ID:10132174

While many aspects of matter are unpredictable from basic principles, there are some that are susceptible to empirical descriptions which can be quite accurate and beautiful. One such example from the field of ``Nuclear Matter Under Extreme Conditions`` is the distribution of the number of particles produced, or alternatively, of the energy carried by these particles, in energetic collisions of atomic nuclei. The present work consists of a series of published scientific papers on measurements of the distribution of particles produced, or the energy carried by these particles, in collisions of various nuclei, spanning more than a decade of research. Due to the unpredictability of the theory, the work includes empirical studies of the regularity of the measured distributions from which significant knowledge is gained. The aesthetics of this subject derives from the physical beauty of the measured curves, the characteristic changes of shape with different species of nuclei, and the deep understanding obtained by the use of a simple and elegant mathematical function to describe the data.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH00016
OSTI ID:
10132174
Report Number(s):
BNL-60040; ON: DE94007976; TRN: 94:005677
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 19 Jan 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English;French