Signals of bimodality in the fragmentation of Au quasi-projectiles

TL;DR

This paper investigates bimodality signals in Au+Au collision data at 35 AMeV, revealing a sudden change in fragmentation patterns consistent with a first-order phase transition.

Contribution

It analyzes various event sorting methods to identify bimodal behavior in fragmentation, providing new evidence for phase transition signals in nuclear matter.

Findings

Bimodal distribution of the largest fragment charge observed

Sudden change in fragmentation pattern detected

Supports liquid-gas phase transition hypothesis

Abstract

Signals of bimodality have been investigated in experimental data of quasi-projectile decay produced in Au+Au collisions at 35 AMeV. This same data set was already shown to provide several signals characteristic of a first order, liquid-gas-like phase transition. Different event sortings proposed in the recent literature are analyzed. A sudden change in the fragmentation pattern is revealed by the distribution of the charge of the largest fragment, compatible with a bimodal behavior.