Constraint Molecular Dynamics and results on isotopic distributions produced in heavy ion collision — The Sn + Ni systems

The Constraint Molecular Dynamics approach is illustrated together with calculation on different heavy ion collisions. In particular the charge-mass distribution produced in the collision ¹²⁴Sn + ⁶⁴Ni and ¹¹²Sn + ⁵⁸Ni at 35 MeV/nucleon is discussed. By comparing the Y = (N ? Z)/A distributions for fragments produced in central collisions it results that this observable can be sensitive to the dynamic effects induced on the two systems by the different charge/mass ratio.     

Intermittency in the Fisher's droplet model

Intermittent behaviour of fragment multiplicity distributions in the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition is studied in terms of the droplet model of Fisher. The anomalous fractal dimensions are compared with data on heavy ion reactions and classical molecular dynamics simulations. A signature of the transition in the anomalous fractal dimensions is shown.We thank Profs. S. Ayik, M. Di Toro and V. Kondratyev for discussions. One of us (T.K.) acknowledges the support of INFN-LNS.     

The low-energy isoscalar dipole resonance in spherical nuclei

It is shown that localization of the low-energy isoscalar 1^? strength observed in a recent Groningen experiment may be caused by incompressible flow vibrations with considerable contribution of a solenoidal component. Calculations performed here without free parameters predict the energy of the isoscalar low-energy dipole resonance of the order of 40A ^?1/3,Me V. This estimate agrees well with data obtained on ⁹⁰Zrand ²⁰⁸Pb.     

High-energy probes

We review some results on energetic particle production in heavy-ion collisions below roughly 100A·MeV, both theoretically and experimentally. We discuss the possible mechanisms of particle production, as well as the possibility to gather information on the nuclear equation of state (EOS) from data. Results on subthreshold pions, energetic photons, nucleons and light charged particles (Z ⩽ 2) are discussed and contrasted to microscopic models. Important information about the first stages of the reaction are obtained by such probes. At present, we can conclude that we have at least a qualitative understanding of the processes involved when such particles are produced. However, a quantitative determination of relevant EOS parameters is still missing. The production mechanism close to the kinematical threshold (incoherent, cooperative or statistical) is not completely elucidated either. This calls for new data using more modern detector systems and comparison to more refined microscopic models.     

Lyapunov exponent, generalized entropies and fractal dimensions of hot drops

We calculate the maximal Lyapunov exponent, the generalized entropies, the asymptotic distance between nearby trajectories and the fractal dimensions for a finite two-dimensional system at different initial excitation energies. We show that these quantities have a maximum at about the same excitation energy. The presence of this maximum indicates the transition from a chaotic regime to a more regular one. In the chaotic regime the system is composed mainly of a liquid drop while the regular one corresponds to almost freely flowing particles and small clusters. At the transitional excitation energy the fractal dimensions are similar to those estimated from the Fisher model for a liquid-gas phase transition at the critical point. Received: 16 March 2001 / Accepted: 12 July 2001     

Effect of the electronic chaotic motion on the fusion dynamics between hydrogen isotopes

We perform molecular dynamics simulations of screening by electrons in low energy nuclear reactions, especially between hydrogen isotopes. Quantum effects that corresponds to the Pauli and Heisenberg principle are enforced by constraints. We show that the enhancement of the average cross-section and of its variance is due to the perturbations induced by the electrons. This gives a correlation between the maximum amplitudes of the inter-nuclear oscillational motion and the enhancement factor. It suggests that the chaotic behaviour of the electronic motion affects the magnitude of the enhancement factor.