Formation and Decay of a Localized Region of High Excitation in Heavy-Ion-Induced Reactions

Proton-proton correlations were measured in ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$-induced reactions on ${}_{}{}^{197}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Au}$ at 400 MeV. Measurements at both small and large proton relative momenta indicate that a significant fraction of the correlated protons are emitted from a spatially localized region of high excitation.