Spinodal instability at the onset of collective expansion in nuclear collisions

Abstract

Using transport theory to model central Au + Au collisions in the energy region of 20–110 MeV/u, at impact parameters b≤5 fm, we predict a measurable impact of the spinodal instability as the collective expansion sets in with energy. Two transport models are employed, the pBUU model, solving a Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck equation, and the Brownian Motion (BM) model, solving a set of Langevin equations to describe the motion of individual nucleons in a noisy nuclear medium. We find without ambiguity, for the first time, that a combination of delayed equilibration, onset of collective expansion and the spinodal instability produces a pair of transient ring structures, made of the projectile and target remnants, with spectator nucleons predicted to end in the entities reminiscent of stones in jewelry, on the rings. The ring structures, calculated in the configuration space and mapped onto the velocity space, could be detected in experimental collective flow data.

Keywords

• Heavy-ion collisions
• Collective flow
• Liquid-gas phase transition
• Spinodal instability
• Transport theory