Abstract: Heavy-ion reactions and other collective dynamical processes are frequently described by different theoretical approaches for the different stages of the process, like initial equilibration stage, intermediate locally equilibrated fluid dynamical stage, and final freeze-out stage. For the last stage, the best known is the Cooper-Frye description used to generate the phase space distribution of emitted, noninteracting particles from a fluid dynamical expansion or explosion, assuming a final ideal gas distribution, or (less frequently) an out-of-equilibrium distribution. In this work we do not want to replace the Cooper-Frye description, but rather clarify the ways of using it and how to choose the parameters of the distribution and, eventually, how to choose the form of the phase space distribution used in the Cooper-Frye formula. Moreover, the Cooper-Frye formula is used in connection with the freeze-out problem, while the discussion of transition between different stages of the collision is applicable to other transitions also. More recently, hadronization and molecular dynamics models have been matched to the end of a fluid dynamical stage to describe hadronization and freeze-out. The stages of the model description can be matched to each other on space-time hypersurfaces (just like through the frequently used freeze-out hypersurface). This work presents a generalized description of how to match the stages of the description of a reaction to each other, extending the methodology used at freeze-out, in simple covariant form which is easily applicable in its simplest version for most applications.

Abstract: A powerful method of investigating proton-unbound nuclear states by tracking their decay products in flight is discussed in detail. To verify the method, four known levels in F-15, Ne-16, and Na-19 were investigated by measuring the angular correlations between protons and the respective heavy-ion fragments stemming from the precursor decays in flight. The parent nuclei of interest were produced in nuclear reactions of one-neutron removal from Ne-17 and Mg-20 projectiles at energies of 410-450 A MeV. The trajectories of the respective decay products, O-14 + p + p and Ne-18 + p + p, were measured by applying a tracking technique with microstrip detectors. These data were used to reconstruct the angular correlations of the fragments, which provided information on energies and widths of the parent states. In addition for reproducing properties of known states, evidence for hitherto unknown excited states in F-15 and Ne-16 was found. This tracking technique has an advantage in studies of exotic nuclei beyond the proton drip line measuring the resonance energies and widths with a high precision although by using low-intensity beams and very thick targets.

Abstract: We study the (K-, p) reaction on nuclei with a 1 GeV/c momentum kaon beam, paying special attention to the region of emitted protons having kinetic energy above 600 MeV, which was used to claim a deeply attractive kaon nucleus optical potential. Our model describes the nuclear reaction in the framework of a local density approach and the calculations are performed following two different procedures: one is based on a many-body method using the Lindhard function and the other is based on a Monte Carlo simulation. The simulation method offers flexibility to account for processes other than kaon quasielastic scattering, such as K- absorption by one and two nucleons, producing hyperons, and allows consideration of final-state interactions of the K-, the p, and all other primary and secondary particles on their way out of the nucleus, as well as the weak decay of the produced hyperons into pi N. We find a limited sensitivity of the cross section to the strength of the kaon optical potential. We also show a serious drawback in the experimental setup-the requirement for having, together with the energetic proton, at least one charged particle detected in the decay counter surrounding the target-as we find that the shape of the original cross section is appreciably distorted, to the point of invalidating the claims made in the experimental paper on the strength of the kaon nucleus optical.

Abstract: Differential cross sections of neutral pions emitted in Ta-181+Au-197 collisions at a beam energy of 39.5A Me V have been measured with the two-arm photon spectrometer (TAPS). The kinetic energy and transverse momentum spectra of neutral pions cannot be properly described in the framework of the thermal model, nor when the reabsorption of pions is accounted for in a phenomenological model. However, high energy and high momentum tails of the pion spectra can be well fitted through thermal distributions with unexpectedly soft temperature parameters below 10 MeV.

Abstract: Because the relatively small neutron capture cross sections of the zirconium isotopes are difficult to measure, the results of previous measurements are often not adequate for a number of problems in astrophysics and nuclear technology. Therefore, the Zr-92(n,gamma) cross section has been remeasured at the CERN n_TOF facility, providing a set of improved parameters for 44 resonances in the neutron energy range up to 40 keV. With this information the cross-section uncertainties in the keV region could be reduced to 5% as required for s-process nucleosynthesis studies and technological applications.