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.

Event-by-event analysis of proton-induced nuclear multifragmentation: determination of the phase transition universality class in a system with extreme finite-size constraints.

A percolation model of nuclear fragmentation is used to interpret 10.2 GeV/c p+197Au multifragmentation data. Emphasis is put on finding signatures of a continuous nuclear matter phase transition in finite nuclear systems.

Signals for a transition from surface to bulk emission in thermal multifragmentation.

Excitation-energy-gated two-fragment correlation functions have been studied between E(*)/A = (2-9)A MeV for equilibriumlike sources formed in 8-10 GeV/c pi(-) and p+197Au reactions. Comparison with an N-body Coulomb-trajectory code shows an order of magnitude decrease in the fragment emission time in the interval E(*)/A = (2-5)A MeV, followed by a nearly constant breakup time at higher excitation energy. The decrease in emission time is strongly correlated with the onset of multifragmentation and thermally induced radial expansion, consistent with a transition from surface-dominated to bulk emission expected for spinodal decomposition.