Multifragmentation and incomplete fusion in central heavy ion collisions within a schematic phenomenological model

Abstract

The projectile-energy thresholds for nuclear multifragmentation in the collisions of ¹²C, ²⁰Ne and ⁴⁰Ar with ¹⁹⁷Au have been calculated using a schematic model applicable to central collisions of intermediate energy heavy ions. The properties of the composite nucleus which remains following the incomplete fusion of the projectile and target nuclei are calculated using the master equation approach of Harp and Miller to determine the number of preequilibrium nucleons emitted and the energy and linear momentum removal by these nucleons. This nucleus is followed through an isentropic expansion phase and the probability distribution of clusters is determined using a percolation approach based on a 3-dimensional cubic lattice. The input parameters for the percolation calculation are derived from the results of the preequilibrium calculation. While the calculated thresholds in projectile energy per nucleon decrease rapidly as the projectile mass increases, the excitation energy at which multifragmentation is first predicted to occur is approximately the same for each system, i.e., 4.5 to 5 MeV/u. This result is consistent with the apparent disappearance of residual heavy products at such bombarding energies.