The multifragmentation of spectator matter

Abstract We present the first microscopic calculation of the spectator fragmentation observed in heavy-ion reactions at relativistic energies which reproduces the slope of the kinetic energy spectra of the fragments as well as their multiplicity, both measured by the ALADIN collaboration. In the past both have been explained in thermal models, however with vastly different assumptions about the excitation energy and the density of the system. We show that both observables are dominated by dynamical processes and that the system does not pass a state of thermal equilibrium. These findings question the recent conjecture that in these collisions a phase transition of first order, similar to that between water and vapor, can be observed.