Nuclear temperature has proved to be a useful concept in heavy ion reactions at both low (E/A<10 MeV) and high (E/A>100 MeV) bombarding energies. Experiments in the intermediate energy regime have been unable to extract a well defined value for the temperature. In this Brief Report we suggest that broad temperature distributions may be able to resolve the apparent discrepancies.

• Received 17 February 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.36.855