Abstract
The equation of state of nuclear matter at finite temperature and density is calculated in a relativistic field theory of interacting baryons and mesons. At subnuclear densities there exists a liquid-gas phase transition with a critical point at Tc=17.3 MeV, nc=0.052 fm-3. We estimate the critical beam energy in symmetric headon nucleus-nucleus collisions for which the exploding nuclear matter passes through the critical point. The dynamics of phase separation is studied in the extreme limits of no dissipation and maximum dissipation.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1299-1302 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Physical Review C |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1986 |