Final-state Coulomb interactions for intermediate-mass fragment emission

Abstract

Information about the space-time characteristics of intermediate-mass fragment emission processes is contained in the shape of two-fragment correlation functions at small relative momenta. A classical approximation to the Koonin-Pratt formula is derived which allows the calculation of correlations resulting from the Coulomb interaction between the two detected fragments. Distortions in the Coulomb field of heavy reaction residues are evaluated by means of three-body Coulomb trajectory calculations.