FRAGMENT EMISSION FROM MODESTLY EXCITED NUCLEAR SYSTEMS

Fragment emission patterns occurring in nuclear systems of modest exci tation are studied. Exclusive measurement of fragment emission in N-14 +Au-197 reactions at E/A = 100, 130 and 156 MeV allows selection of ce ntral collisions where a single source dominates the decay. Low thresh old measurement of IMF emission for these events allows investigation of the influence of detector threshold effects. The time scale of frag ment emission is deduced using fragment-fragment velocity correlations . Comparisons are made to the predictions of a statistical decay model .