MULTIFRAGMENT EMISSION IN THE REACTION AR-36+AU-197 AT E/A=35, 50, 80, AND 110 MEV

Multifragment emission in the reaction Ar-36 + Au-197 at E/A = 35, 50, 80, and 110 MeV has been measured with a low-threshold 4-pi detector array. Over this broad range of incident energies, the mean values and variances of the intermediate mass fragment (IMF: 3 less-than-or-equal-to Z less-than-or-equal-to 20) multiplicity distributions exhibit an approximate scaling with the total charged particle multiplicity. The measured multiplicities of light charged particles and intermediate mass fragments are compared with both a model involving statistical decay of an expanding compound nucleus, and with a model involving microscopic quasi-particle dynamics. The statistical decay model predictions are sensitive to the low-density nuclear equation of state.