Caloric curve in Au+Au collisions

Realistic caloric curves are obtained for the {sup 197}Au+{sup 197}Au reaction with incident energy ranging from 35 to 130 MeV/nucleon in the dynamic statistical multifragmentation model. It is shown that for the excitation energy 3 to 8 MeV/nucleon, the temperature remains constant in the range 5 to 6 MeV, which is close to the experiment. The mechanism of energy deposition through the tripartition of the colliding system envisaged in this model together with interfragment nuclear interaction are found to play important roles. A possible signature of a liquid-gas phase transition is seen in the specific heat distribution calculated from these caloric curves, and the critical temperature is found to be {approximately}6 to 6.5 MeV. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}