Gold multifragmentation: Analysis of an exclusive experiment

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Abstract
We analyze completely exclusive 1 GeV/nucleon gold-emulsion reaction data with special emphasis on quantities which may help to settle the unsolved problem of which reaction mechanism produces the multifragmentation of heavy nuclei. We present results on correlations between target fragments and projectile fragments and among projectile fragments. In particular, we present for the first time the evolution of the mass yield distribution with the violence of the collisions which is characterized by the number of Z=1 particles. We find that events producing Z=2 particles have a different signature than those producing medium mass fragments. This shows that the agreement of the data with theories describing the inclusive mass yield by a single process—like a liquid gas phase transition—is accidental.