Evidence for spinodal decomposition in nuclear multifragmentation.
/ Authors
B. Borderie, G. Tabacaru, P. Chomaz, M. Colonna, A. Guarnera, M. Pârlog, M. Rivet, G. Auger, C. Bacri, N. Bellaize
and 30 more authors
R. Bougault, B. Bouriquet, R. Brou, P. Buchet, A. Chbihi, J. Colin, A. Demeyer, E. Galichet, E. Gerlic, D. Guinet, S. Hudan, P. Lautesse, F. Lavaud, J. Laville, J. Lecolley, C. Leduc, R. Légrain, N. Le Neindre, O. Lopez, M. Louvel, A. Maskay, J. Normand, P. Pawlowski, E. Rosato, F. Saint-Laurent, J. Steckmeyer, B. Tamain, L. Tassan-got, E. Vient, J. Wieleczko
/ Abstract
Multifragmentation of a "fused system" was observed for central collisions between 32 MeV/nucleon 129Xe and (nat)Sn. Most of the resulting charged products were well identified due to the high performances of the INDRA 4pi array. Experimental higher-order charge correlations for fragments show a weak but nonambiguous enhancement of events with nearly equal-sized fragments. Supported by dynamical calculations in which spinodal decomposition is simulated, this observed enhancement is interpreted as a "fossil" signal of spinodal instabilities in finite nuclear systems.
Journal: Physical review letters