Doppler-shift analysis of continuum x radiation from quasimolecular systems

Abstract

We show that an internally consistent determination of both the emitter velocity and directional anisotropy of continuum x radiation from heavy-ion collisions provides an important method with which quasimolecular emissions can be identified and distinguished from various backgroumd sources of continuum x rays. These features are illustrated with measurements on the Ni + Ni and Ni + Nb collision systems utilizing the observation of the forward-backward Doppler shift of the continuum x rays to determine the emitter velocities as a function of photon energy.