Production of hypernuclei in multifragmentation of nuclear spectator matter

Abstract

In peripheral collisions of relativistic heavy ions highly excited spectators containing \ensuremath{\Lambda} hyperons can be produced. Such strange spectator matter may undergo a break-up into many fragments (multifragmentation) as it is well established for ordinary nuclear systems. We generalize the statistical multifragmentation model, previously successfully used for the description of experimental data, for the case of hypernuclear systems. We predict relative yields of hypernuclei and the main characteristics of such a breakup. We point at a connection of this phenomenon with a liquid-gas phase transition in hypermatter.