Statistical abrasion of nucleons from realistic nuclear-matter distributions

Abstract

A description of peripheral nuclear collisions at high energies in terms of quasi-free nucleon-nucleon collisions is proposed. The statistical removal of nucleons from diffuse nuclear-density distributions is formulated in the framework of the abrasion model. Based on the nucleon-nucleon cross sections, energy-dependent partial and total abrasion cross sections are obtained. The total abrasion cross section is found to be equivalent to the total interaction cross section resulting from a microscopic Glauber-type calculation. In contrast to geometrical and optical abrasion models, the statistical abrasion formalism describes the fluctuations of the prefragment neutron-to-proton ratio without need for further assumptions. The predictions of the statistical abrasion model are compared to experimental data.