Abrasion-ablation calculations of large fragment yields from relativistic heavy ion reactions

Abstract

Calculations of large mass fragment yields from high-energy heavy-ion reactions are performed based on the abrasion-ablation model. The geometrical picture of the clean-cut fireball model is used to calculate the number of participant nucleons in the abrasion stage and the excitation energy of the spectators (primary residues). A standard statistical evaporation code is used to calculate the ablation stage. Results from this model show an overall agreement with experimental data, although some systematic discrepancies are found and discussed. A frictional spectator interaction is introduced which increases the average excitation energy of primary fragments and improves the results considerably.