Critical behavior in a microcanonical multifragmentation model

Abstract

Scaling properties of fragment size distributions are studied in a microcanonical multifragmentation model. A new method based on the global quality of the scaling function is presented. Scaling is not washed out by the long range Coulomb interaction or by secondary decays for a wide range of source masses, densities, and deposited energies. However, the influence of these factors on the precise value of the critical exponents as well as the finite size corrections to scaling are shown to be important and to affect the possible experimental determination of a specific universality class.