Light-particle emission and projectile breakup in 35A MeV 12C induced collisions

Abstract

Inclusive spectra of p, d, t, 3He and 4He from 35A MeV 12C + C, Al, Cu, Au reactions, as well as coincidences between projectile-like fragments and light particles have been measured. The apparent temperature does not seem to depend on the size of the coincident fragment. An independent way to determine source velocities indicates that high-energy protons are emitted from a source with a velocity close to half the beam velocity, even in asymmetric reactions. We observe an in-plane enhancement in the azimuthal angular distributions of coincident projectile-like fragments, which gets stronger with increasing mass of the triggering particle or the fragment. A discussion around momentum conservation effects shows that p * B correlations may originate from a combination of pure projectile breakup and nucleon-nucleon quasi-elastic scattering processes. The correlations observed in less peripheral collisions need the introduction of a second, light-particle emitting source.