We propose a new formulation of the statistical multifragmentation model based on the analysis of the virial expansion for a system of the nuclear fragments of all sizes. The developed model not only enables us to account for short-range repulsion, but also to calculate the surface free energy which is induced by the interaction between the fragments.
We propose a new parameterization for the liquid phase pressure which allows us to introduce a compressible nuclear liquid into the statistical multifragmentation model. The resulting model is exactly solvable and has no irregular behavior of the isotherms in the mixed phase region that is typical for mean-field models. The general conditions for the 1-st and 2-nd (or higher) order phase transitions are formulated. It is shown that all endpoints of the present model phase diagram are the tricritical points, if the Fisher exponent $τ$ is in the range $\{3}{2} \le τ\le 2$. The treatment of nuclear liquid compressibility allows us to reduce the tricritical endpoint density of the statistical multifragmentation model to one third of the normal nuclear density. A specific attention is paid to of the fragment size distributions in the region of a negative surface tension at supercritical temperatures.
The liquid-gas phase transition is analyzed from the topologic properties of the event distribution in the obervables space. A multi-canonical formalism allows to directly relate the standard phase transition with neutral particles to the case where the non saturating Coulomb interaction is present, and to interpret the effect of Coulomb as a deformation of the probability distributions and a rotation of the order parameter. This formalism is applied to a statistical multifragmentation model and consequences for the nuclear multifragmentation phase transitions are drawn.
Clusters in the three-dimensional Ising model rigorously obey reducibility and thermal scaling up to the critical temperature. The barriers extracted from Arrhenius plots depend on the cluster size as $B \propto A^σ$ where $σ$ is a critical exponent relating the cluster size to the cluster surface. All the Arrhenius plots collapse into a single Fisher-like scaling function indicating liquid-vapor-like phase coexistence and the univariant equilibrium between percolating clusters and finite clusters. The compelling similarity with nuclear multifragmentation is discussed.
The experimental measures of the multiplicity derivatives, the moment parameters, the bimodal parameter, the fluctuation of maximum fragment charge number (NVZ), the Fisher exponent ($τ$) and Zipf's law parameter ($ξ$), are examined to search for the liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear multifragmention processes within the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model (SMM). The sensitivities of these measures are studied. All these measures predict a critical signature at or near to the critical point both for the primary and secondary fragments. Among these measures, the total mul…
An exact analytical solution of the statistical multifragmentation model is found in thermodynamic limit. The model exhibits a 1-st order phase transition of the liquid-gas type. The mixed phase region of the phase diagram, where the gas of nuclear fragments coexists with the infinite liquid condensate, is unambiguously identified. The peculiar thermodynamic properties of the model near the boundary between the mixed phase and the pure gaseous phase are studied. The results for the caloric curve and specific heat are presented and a physical picture of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition i…
Nuclear multifragmentation in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions has long been associated with liquid-gas phase transition. We calculate the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s for an equilibrated system of nucleons and fragments produced in multifragmentation within an extended statistical multifragmentation model. The temperature dependence of eta/s exhibits surprisingly similar behavior as that for water. In the coexistence phase of fragments and light particles, the ratio eta/s reaches a minimum of comparable depth as that for water in the vicinity of the critical temperat…
An exact analytical solution of the statistical multifragmentation model is found in thermodynamic limit. The system of nuclear fragments exhibits a 1-st order liquid-gas phase transition. The peculiar thermodynamic properties of the model near the boundary between the mixed phase and the pure gaseous phase are studied.
A general discussion is made concerning the ways in which one can get signatures about a possible liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear matter. Microcanonical temperature, heat capacity and second order derivative of the entropy versus energy formulas have been deduced in a general case. These formulas are {\em exact}, simply applicable and do not depend on any model assumption. Therefore, they are suitable to be applied on experimental data. The formulas are tested in various situations. It is evidenced that when the freeze-out constraint is of fluctuating volume type the deduced (heat capac…
An exact analytical solution of the statistical multifragmentation model is found in thermodynamic limit. Excluded volume effects are taken into account in the thermodynamically self-consistent way. The model exhibits a 1-st order phase transition of the liquid-gas type. An extension of the model including the Fisher's term is also studied. The possibility of the second order phase transition at or above the critical point is discussed. The mixed phase region of the phase diagram, where the gas of nuclear fragments coexists with the infinite liquid condensate, is unambiguously identified. The …
A prescription to incorporate the effects of nuclear flow on the process of multifragmentation of hot nuclei is proposed in an analytically solvable canonical model. Flow is simulated by the action of an effective negative external pressure. It favors sharpening the signatures of liquid-gas phase transition in finite nuclei with increased multiplicity and a lowered phase transition temperature.
In peripheral collisions of relativistic heavy ions highly excited spectators containing Lambda-hyperons can be produced. Such strange spectator matter may undergo a break-up into many fragments (multifragmentation) as it is well established for ordinary nuclear systems. We generalize the statistical multifragmentation model, previously successfully used for the description of experimental data, for the case of hypernuclear systems. We predict relative yields of hypernuclei and the main characteristics of such a break-up. We point at a connection of this phenomenon with a liquid-gas phase tran…
Because of thermal expansion and residual interactions, hot nuclear fragments produced in multifragmentation reactions may have lower nucleon density than the equilibrium density of cold nuclei. In terms of liquid-drop model this effect can be taken into account by reducing the bulk energy of fragments. We study the influence of this change on fragment yields and isotope distributions within the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model. Similarities and differences with previously discussed modifications of symmetry and surface energies of nuclei are analyzed.
The equation of state of nuclear matter suggests that at suitable beam energies the disassembling hot system formed in heavy ion collisions will pass through a liquid-gas coexistence region. Searching for the signatures of the phase transition has been a very important focal point of experimental endeavours in heavy ion collisions, in the last fifteen years. Simultaneously theoretical models have been developed to provide information about the equation of state and reaction mechanisms consistent with the experimental observables. This article is a review of this endeavour.
We discuss the meaning of Zipf's law in nuclear multifragmentation. We remark that Zipf's law is a consequence of a power law fragment size distribution with exponent $τ\simeq 2$. We also recall why the presence of such distribution is not a reliable signal of a liquid-gas phase transition.
We discuss an exact analytical solution of a simplified version of the statistical multifragmentation model with the restriction that the largest fragment size cannot exceed the finite volume of the system. A complete analysis of the isobaric partition singularities of this model is done for finite volumes. It is shown that the real part of any simple pole of the isobaric partition defines the free energy of the corresponding state, whereas its imaginary part, depending on the sign, defines the inverse decay/formation time of this state. The developed formalism allows us, for the first time, t…
In multifragmentation of hot nuclear matter, properties of fragments embedded in a soup of nucleonic gas and other fragments should be modified as compared with isolated nuclei. Such modifications are studied within a simple model where only nucleons and one kind of heavy nuclei are considered. The interaction between different species is described with a momentum-dependent two-body potential whose parameters are fitted to reproduce properties of cold isolated nuclei. The internal energy of heavy fragments is parametrized according to a liquid-drop model with density and temperature dependent …
Nuclear multifragmentation is an important phenomenon, the study of which can throw light on reaction mechanism in heavy ion collisions at intermediate and high energies. Based on statistical and dynamical model studies, this thesis is concentrated mainly on, the following three aspects of nuclear multifragmentation reactions namely (i) production of exotic nuclei which are normally not available in the laboratory (ii) nuclear symmetry energy from heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies and (iii) Nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. In addition to these equivalence of statistical ensembl…
This review article is focused on the tremendous progress realized during the last fifteen years in the understanding of multifragmentation and its relationship to the liquid-gas phase diagram of nuclei and nuclear matter. The explosion of the whole nucleus, early predicted by Bohr [N. Bohr, Nature 137 (1936) 351], is a very complex and rich subject which continues to fascinate nuclear physicists as well as theoreticians who extend the thermodynamics of phase transitions to finite systems.
On the basis of morphological thermodynamics we develop an exactly solvable version of statistical mutifragmentation model for the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. It is shown that the hard-core repulsion between spherical nuclei generates only the bulk (volume), surface and curvature parts of the free energy of the nucleus, while the Gaussian curvature one does not appear in the derivation. The phase diagram of nuclear liquid-gas phase transition is studied for a truncated version of the developed model.
We apply the canonical quantum statistical model of nuclear multifragmentation generalized in the framework of recently proposed Tsallis non-extensive thermostatistics for the description of nuclear multifragmentation process. The test calculation in the system with A=197 nucleons show strong modification of the 'critical' behaviour associated with the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition for small deviations from the conventional Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics.
We study phase transitions of small two dimensional Lennard Jones drops via microcanonical molecular dynamics in a broad energy range. We found that the caloric curve can be extended to high energies to comprehend high evaporation rates and highly non-equilibrium phenomena such as multifragmentation. Multifragmentation appears as a constant temperature region in the caloric curve like the solid-liquid phase transition.
During the collapse of massive stars, and the supernova type-II explosions, stellar matter reaches densities and temperatures which are similar to the ones obtained in intermediate-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. The nuclear multifragmentation reactions can be used for determination of properties of nuclear matter at subnuclear densities, in the region of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. It is demonstrated that the modified properties of hot nuclei (in particular, their symmetry energy) extracted from the multifragmentation data can essentially influence nuclear composition of stell…
We examine whether or not the surface tension acts to increase the nucleon density in the nuclear interior within a compressible liquid-drop model. We find that it depends on the density dependence of the surface tension, which may in turn be deduced from the neutron skin thickness of stable nuclei.
In nuclear reactions induced by hadrons and ions of high energies, nuclei can disintegrate into many fragments during a short time (~100 fm/c). This phenomenon known as nuclear multifragmentation was under intensive investigation last 20 years. It was established that multifragmentation is an universal process taking place in all reactions when the excitation energy transferred to nuclei is high enough, more than 3 MeV per nucleon, independently on the initial dynamical stage of the reactions. Very known compound nucleus decay processes (sequential evaporation and fission), which are usual for…
Density fluctuations of expanding nuclear matter are studied within a mean-field model in which fluctuations are generated by an external stochastic field. Fluctuations develop about a mean one-body phase-space density corresponding to a hydrodinamic motion that describes a slow expansion of the system. A fluctuation-dissipation relation suitable for a uniformly expanding medium is obtained and used to constrain the strength of the stochastic field. The distribution of the liquid domains in the spinodal decomposition is derived. Comparison of the related distribution of the fragment size with …
The density fluctuations of nuclear matter are studied within a mean-field model in wich fluctuations are generated by an external stochastic field. The constraints imposed on the random force by the fluctuation-dissipation theorem are analyzed. It is shown that in the proximity of the borders of the spinodal region the assumption of a white-noise stochastic field can be reliably used. The domain distribution of the liquid phase in the spinodal decomposition of nuclear matter is derived. The related distribution of fragment sizes compares favourably with the experimental fragment distribution …
We have demonstrated that the isospin of nuclei influences the fragment production during the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. Calculations for Au197, Sn124, La124 and Kr78 at various excitation energies were carried out on the basis of the statistical multifragmentation model (SMM). We analyzed the behavior of the critical exponent tau with the excitation energy and its dependence on the critical temperature. Relative yields of fragments were classified with respect to the mass number of the fragments in the transition region. In this way, we have demonstrated that nuclear multifragmentat…
We have demonstrated that the isospin of nuclei influences the fragment production during the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. Calculations for Au197, Sn124, La124 and Kr78 at various excitation energies were carried out on the basis of the statistical multifragmentation model (SMM). We analyzed the behavior of the critical exponent tau with the excitation energy and its dependence on the critical temperature. Relative yields of fragments were classified with respect to the mass number of the fragments in the transition region. In this way, we have demonstrated that nuclear multifragmentat…
The study of liquid-gas phase transition in heavy ion collisions has generated a lot of interest amongst the nuclear physicists in the recent years. In heavy ion collisions, there is no direct way of measuring the state variables like entropy, pressure, energy and hence unambiguous characterization of phase transition becomes difficult. This work proposes new signatures of phase transition that can be extracted from the observables which are easily accessible in experiments. It is observed that the temperature dependence of the first order derivative of the order parameters in nuclear liquid g…
Fragment average isospin distributions are investigated within a microcanonical multifragmentation model in different regions of the phase diagram. The results indicate that in the liquid phase $<N/Z>$ versus $Z$ is monotonically increasing, in the phase coexistence region it has a rise and fall shape and in the gas phase it is constant. Deviations from this behavior may manifest at low fragment multiplicity as a consequence of mass/charge conservation. Characterization of the "free" and "bound" phases function of fragment charge reconfirms the neutron enrichment of the "free" phase with respe…
The effects of (in)homogeneity and size on the phase diagram of Lennard-Jones fluids are investigated. It is shown that standard multifragmentation scenarios (finite equilibrated systems with conserved center of mass position and momentum) are implying a strong radial inhomogeneity of the system strongly affecting the phase diagram. The homogeneity constraint is therefore necessary for finite systems in order to align to the ``meaning'' of infinite systems phase diagrams. In this respect, a method which deduces the equation of state of homogeneous finite systems from the one corresponding to b…
Here we present two explicit counterexamples to the widely spread beliefs about an exclusive role of bimodality as the first order phase transition signal. On the basis of an exactly solvable statistical model generalizing the statistical multifragmentation model we demonstrate that the bimodal distributions can naturally appear both in infinite and in finite systems without a phase transition. In the first counterexample a bimodal distribution appears in an infinite system at the supercritical temperatures due to the negative values of the surface tension coefficient. In the second counterexa…
We present a detailed analysis of three models predicting the properties of non-uniform matter in the crust of neutron stars: the compressible liquid-drop model, the fourth order Extended Thomas Fermi (ETF) method, and ETF plus Strutinsky integral (ETFSI) correction. The former treats the nuclear clusters as uniform hard spheres, the second takes into account the density distribution which can be different for neutrons and protons, and the last one includes the proton shell effects within the Strutinsky approach. The purpose of this work is to understand the importance of the improvements in t…
The nuclear liquid-gas phase transition of the system in ideal thermal equilibrium is studied with antisymmetrized molecular dynamics. The time evolution of a many-nucleon system confined in a container is solved for a long time to get a microcanonical ensemble of a given energy and volume. The temperature and the pressure are extracted from this ensemble and the caloric curves are constructed. The present work is the first time that a microscopic dynamical model which describes nuclear multifragmentation reactions well is directly applied to get the nuclear caloric curve. The obtained constan…
The thermal and phase properties of a multifragmentation model which uses clusters as degrees of freedom, are explored as a function of isospin. A good qualitative agreement is found with the phase diagram of asymmetric nuclear matter as established by different mean-field models. In particular, from the convexity properties of the nuclear entropy, we show that uncharged finite nuclei display first and second order liquid-gas-like phase transitions. Different quantities are examined to connect the thermal properties of the system to cluster observables. In particular we show that fractionation…
The crust-core phase transition of neutron stars is quantitatively studied within a unified meta-modelling of the nuclear Equation of State (EoS). The variational equations in the crust are solved within a Compressible Liquid Drop (CLD) approach, with surface parameters consistently optimized for each EoS set on experimental nuclear mass data. When EoS parameters are taken from known Skyrme or RMF functionals, the transition point of those models is nicely reproduced. A model-independent probability distribution of EoS parameters and of the transition density and pressure is determined with a …
It has been proposed that multifragmentation can be related to the liquid-gas phase transition of nuclear matter. We study the statistical properties of finite nuclear matter near the phase transition with the help of a Lattice Gas Model (LGM). The original version of LGM with only one type of charge-neutral particles is well known to feature the properties of the liquid-gas phase transition. In this contribution, we address the effect of Coulomb and isospin dependence interaction for the finite nuclei transition, and study the symmetry energy properties of finite temperature systems.
Here we present an explicit counterexample to a bimodality concept as the unique signal of first order phase transition. Using an exact solution of the simplified version of the statistical multifragmentation model we demonstrate that the bimodal distributions can naturally appear in infinite system without a phase transition in the regions of the negative values of the surface tension coefficient. Also we propose a new parameterization for the compressible nuclear liquid which is consistent with the L. van Hove axioms of statistical mechanics. As a result the proposed model does not lead to t…
Reactions of nuclear multifragmentation of excited finite nuclei can be interpreted as manifestation of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition. During this process the matter at subnuclear density clusterizes into hot primary fragments, which are located in the vicinity of other nuclear species. In recent experiments there were found evidences that the symmetry and surface energies of primary fragments change considerably as compared to isolated cold or low-excited nuclei. The new modified properties of primary fragments should be taken into account during their secondary de-excitation.
Thermodynamical properties of nuclear matter undergoing multifragmentation are studied within a simplified version of the statistical model. An exact analytical solution has been found for the grand canonical ensemble. Excluded volume effects are taken into account in the thermodynamically self-consistent way. In thermodynamic limit the model exhibits a first order liquid-gas phase transition with specific mixed phase properties. An extension of the model including the Fisher's term is also studied. The possibility of the second order phase transition at or above the critical point is demonstr…
Calculations within the statistical multifragmentation model show that the neutron content of intermediate mass fragments can increase in the region of liquid-gas phase transition in finite nuclei. The model predicts also inhomogeneous distributions of fragments and their isospin in the freeze-out volume caused by an angular momentum and external long-range Coulomb field. These effects can take place in peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions at intermediate energies and lead to neutron-rich isotopes produced in the midrapidity kinematic region.
Here we present an explicit counterexample to the widely spread beliefs about an exclusive role of bimodality as the first order phase transition signal. On the basis of an exactly solvable statistical model generalizing the statistical multifragmentation model of nuclei we demonstrate that the bimodal nuclear fragment size distributions can naturally appear in infinite system without a phase transition. It appears at the supercritical temperatures due to the negative values of the surface tension coefficient. The developed statistical model corresponds to the compressible nuclear liquid with …
The N/Z dependence of projectile fragmentation at relativistic energies has been studied with the ALADIN forward spectrometer at the GSI Schwerionen Synchrotron (SIS). Stable and radioactive Sn and La beams with an incident energy of 600 MeV per nucleon have been used in order to explore a wide range of isotopic compositions. For the interpretation of the data, calculations with the statistical multifragmentation model for a properly chosen ensemble of excited sources were performed. The parameters of the ensemble, representing the variety of excited spectator nuclei expected in a participant-…
We present a systematic survey the range of predictions of the neutron star inner crust composition, crust-core transition densities and pressures, and density range of the nuclear `pasta' phases at the bottom of the crust provided by the compressible liquid drop model in the light of current experimental and theoretical constraints on model parameters. Using a Skyrme-like model for nuclear matter, we construct baseline sequences of crust models by consistently varying the density dependence of the bulk symmetry energy at nuclear saturation density, $L$, under two conditions: (i) that the magn…
The study of liquid gas phase transition in fragmentation of nuclei in heavy ion collisions has been extended to the strangeness sector using the statistical model for multifragmentation. Helmholtz's free energy, specific heat and few other thermodynamic observables have been analyzed in order to examine the occurence of phase transition in the strange matter. The bimodal behaviour of the largest cluster formed in fragmentation also strongly indicates coexistence of both the phases. The presence of hyperons strengthens the signals and also shifts the transition temperature to lower values.
