A model for nuclear matter fragmentation: phase diagram and cluster distributions

We develop a model in the framework of nuclear fragmentation at thermodynamic equilibrium which can be mapped onto an Ising model with constant magnetization, We work out the thermodynamic properties of the model as well as the properties of the fragment size distributions. We show that two types of phase transitions can be found for high density systems. They merge into a unique transition at low density. An analysis of the critical exponents which characterize observables for different densities in the thermodynamic limit shows that these transitions look like continuous second-order transitions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.