Projectile fragmentation at relativistic energies: A possibility to determine the viscosity of nuclear matter
Résumé
Up to now, the results on nuclear viscosity are rather contradictory. Values of the dissipation coefficient between beta approximate to 0.5 . 10(21)s(-1) and beta approximate to 20 . 10(21)s(-1) have been deduced from previous experiments. A new experimental access to the dynamics of fission is given by peripheral nuclear collisions at relativistic energies. This method has important advantages with respect to the traditional ones, since highly excited nuclei are produced with low angular momenta and small shape distortions. Preliminary results of applying this procedure at GSI Darmstadt are presented.