AN EVENT GENERATOR FOR THE STUDY OF NUCLEAR COLLISIONS IN THE FERMI ENERGY DOMAIN .1. FORMALISM AND 1ST APPLICATIONS

An event generator is proposed to simulate the response of complex detectors used for the study of heavy-ion collisions in the Fermi energy domain. The scenario of the generator is based on some well-established experimental findings characterizing the considered energy range. The physics used for the description of the decay of the various remnants produced in the collision is based on a version of the statistical model taking into account the different time scales involved in the decay processes. As examples of the first applications of the event generator, the intermediate-mass fragment production and the question of the saturation of the thermal energy deposited in heavy targets are studied. Multifragment events studied with complex multidetectors will be analysed in a forthcoming paper.