ROLE OF STATISTICAL FLUCTUATIONS FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF ARRHENIUS-TYPE PLOTS IN NUCLEAR MULTIFRAGMENTATION

The role of statistical fluctuations for the interpretation of Arrheni us-type plots in nuclear multifragmentation, representing scaling with transverse kinetic energy, is explored. It is shown that the observed striking ''Arrhenius''-like correlations and binomial-like multiplici ty distributions do not provide evidence for an underlying thermal sca ling (with excitation energy or temperature) of intermediate-mass frag ment (IMF) production. In fact, these striking features appear inconsi stent with a dominantly thermal IMF production scenario.