Determination of Critical Exponents from the Multifragmentation of Gold Nuclei

Abstract

Using reverse kinematics, we have studied the breakup of $1.0A$ GeV gold nuclei incident on a carbon target. The detector system permitted exclusive event reconstruction of nearly all charged reaction products. The moments of the resulting charged fragment distribution provide strong evidence that nuclear matter possesses a critical point observable in finite nuclei. We have determined values for the critical exponents $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, $\ensuremath{\beta}$, and $\ensuremath{\tau}$. These values are close to those for liquid-gas systems and clearly different than those for 3D percolation and the liquid-gas mean field limit.