Comparison of central collisions with thermalised systems in the framework of the classical N-body dynamics

Francois Morisseau, Daniel Cussol

Published 2005-04-13Version 1

In this study we address the question of the thermal description of collisions of classical clusters in the framework of classical N-body dynamics. We compare the results of systems in central collisions and those of thermalised systems with the same sizes and with the same available energies. The comparisons are made on size distributions, on total multiplicities distributions and on IMF (N>3) multiplicities distributions. These distributions are found identical for available energies per particle below the energy of the least bound particle of the total system. They are notably different for higher available energies. These results may put a new light on the standard explanation for fragment formation in N-body collisions.