Fragmentation in Exclusive Measurements

Fragmentation processes have been explored for nucleus-nucleus collisions as a function of impact parameter and as a function of incident energy. Fragment multiplicities for central collisions increase with incident energy towards a maximum at about {E}/{A}=100 MeV and then decline towards vaporization as multifragment emission becomes increasingly peripheral. Fragment emission in peripheral collisions at lower incident energies occurs preferentially from neck-like structures that momentarily join the projectile-like and target-like residues, unlike the case at higher incident energies where fragments originate primarily from the multifragment decay of the residues, themselves.