Dynamical effects of momentum dependence of the nuclear mean field in medium energy heavy ion collisions

We suggest several ways to study the dynamical effects of the momentum depe ndence of the nuclear mean field in medium energy heavy ion collisions, fro m incomplete fusion to multifragmentation events. We present dynamical simu lations based on a new transport code with a quite general form of mean fie ld nonlocality and we compare with local effective forces giving the same e quilibrium properties. We clearly see sizable effects on the onset of insta bilities, on rates and angular distributions of preequilibrium particle emi ssion, and on rapidity distributions of vaporization events for central col lisions. [S0556-2813(99)03802-9].