Obtaining the caloric curve from collisions - art. no. 044605

It might be possible that thermodynamic properties of nuclear matter, such as the caloric curve, could be obtained from heavy-ion reactions. Recent ex perimental and computational studies of nuclear experiments have obtained c ontradictory caloric curves for nuclear matter. This work improves on previ ous theoretical studies by considering the fragmentation produced by collis ions, and introducing the methodology needed to identify the fragments, the ir temperature, energy, and a caloric curve. The main findings are the cruc ial reduction of energy produced in the promptly emitted particles, the exi stence of a well-defined fragmentation time, the connection of the temperat ure of the detected fragments with that at fragmentation time, and the poss ibility of obtaining the caloric curve from collisions.