Multifractality of mass distribution in fragmentation

Fragmentation is studied using a simple numerical model. An object is taken to be two dimensional and consists of particles that interact pairwise via the Lennard-Jones potential while the effect of the fragmentation-induced forces is represented by some initial velocities assigned to the particles. As time evolves, the particles form clusters which are identified as fragm ents. The fragment mass distribution has been found to depend on the input energy. This energy dependence is investigated and the fragment mass distri bution is found to be multifractal in that a single exponent is not suffici ent to characterize the energy dependence of the different moments of the m ass distribution. We have further attempted to explore the interesting poss ibility that this multifractality of the fragment mass distribution might b e a consequence of the properties of the object before it breaks up into ma ny pieces. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.