4 pi studies of the 1.8-4.8 GeV 3He+natAg, 197Au reactions. II. Multifragmentation.

Abstract

Multifragmentation of {sup nat}Ag and {sup 197}Au nuclei induced by 1.8{endash}4.8 GeV {sup 3}He ions has been studied with the Indiana Silicon Sphere 4{pi} detector array. Rapidity, moving source, and sphericity-coplanarity analyses are consistent with near-simultaneous emission from a source in approximate kinetic equilibrium. For the most dissipative collisions, the spectral peaks are broadened and shifted to very low energies, indicative of emission from an extended nuclear system with {rho}/{rho}{sub 0}{approximately}1/3. Predictions of an intranuclear cascade/expanding, emitting source model compare well with experimental multiplicity distributions and the evolution of fragment spectral shapes. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}