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Reaction Dynamics of Heavy Ion Collisions Studied by Hard Photon Emission
Author(s) -
Metag V.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
annalen der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1521-3889
pISSN - 0003-3804
DOI - 10.1002/andp.19915030112
Subject(s) - physics , bremsstrahlung , photon , nuclear physics , atomic physics , ion , excited state , proton , fermi gamma ray space telescope , heavy ion , electron , astrophysics , quantum mechanics
The role of photons as a probe of heavy ion reaction dynamics is discussed. Experimental data on the systems 16 O + W and 92 Mo + 92 Mo illustrate that hard photons render a time differential information on the evolution of heavy ion collisions ranging from proton — neutron bremsstrahlung in the initial phase to thermal emission from highly excited reaction products in the last stage of the reaction. Measured hard photon multiplicities provide in addition a new approach to determine the impact parameter of heavy ion collisions. A systematics of hard photon emission probabilities reveals the role of the nucleonic Fermi motion in the collision zone. Prospects for future experiments focussing on photon and neutral meson production at relativistic bombarding energies are outlined.