Instabilities in hot nuclear matter: A mechanism for nuclear fragmentation

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.818· OSTI ID:7136213

Heiselberg, H; Pethick, C J; Ravenhall, D G

We analyze the process of fragmentation in heavy-ion interactions from the viewpoint of growth of instabilities in hot expanding nuclear matter. The growth rates of modes in a medium unstable to small density perturbations of finite wavelength are calculated from a kinetic equation. This enables us to treat the case where the nucleon mean free path is comparable to or greater than the wavelength of the fluctuation, and the temperature is arbitrary. We estimate for hot nuclear matter the initial conditions which, after expansion, will result in fragmentation, evaporation, or vaporization.

• Research Organization: Nordita, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Oe, Denmark 10 West Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801
• OSTI ID: 7136213
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States), Vol. 61:7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
NUCLEAR FRAGMENTS
NUCLEAR MATTER
EQUATIONS OF STATE
COMPRESSIBILITY
INSTABILITY
KINETIC EQUATIONS
MEAN FREE PATH
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
EQUATIONS
MATTER
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
653002* - Nuclear Theory- Nuclear Matter
653003 - Nuclear Theory- Nuclear Reactions & Scattering