Liquid to vapor phase transition in excited nuclei

The thermal component of the 8 GeV/c pi+ Au data of the ISiS Collaboration is shown to follow the scaling predicted by Fisher's model when Coulomb energy is taken into account. Critical exponents tau and sigma, the critical point (p(c),rho(c),T(c)), surface energy coefficient c(0), enthalpy of evaporation DeltaH, and critical compressibility factor C(F)(c) are determined. For the first time, the experimental phase diagrams, (p,T) and (T,rho), describing the liquid vapor coexistence of finite neutral nuclear matter have been constructed.

Nuclear multifragmentation, percolation, and the fisher droplet model: common features of reducibility and thermal scaling

It is shown that the Fisher droplet model, percolation, and nuclear multifragmentation share the common features of reducibility (stochasticity in multiplicity distributions) and thermal scaling (one-fragment production probabilities are Boltzmann factors). Barriers obtained, for cluster production on percolation lattices, from the Boltzmann factors show a power-law dependence on cluster size with an exponent of 0.42+/-0.02. The EOS Collaboration Au multifragmentation data yield barriers with a power-law exponent of 0.68+/-0.03. Values of the surface energy coefficient of a low density nuclear system are also extracted.

Measurements of low-energy (d,n) reactions for BNCT. Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

Neutron yields and energy spectra have been measured for various deuteron-induced reactions at low energy. Neutrons of energy > 100 keV emitted in the 9Be(d,n)10B, 12C(d,n)13N, and 13C(d,n)14N reactions at Ed= 1.5 MeV were detected at five angles by means of liquid scintillator detectors. While low-energy neutrons were observed in all studied reactions, only 13C(d,n)14N is characterized by a relatively large yield with spectral features potentially interesting for an accelerator-based neutron source for BNCT.