Nuclear matter at a HIRFL-CSR energy regime

We report some recent progress in constraining the symmetry energy E-sym(rho) at high densities using high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Circumstantial evidence of a soft E-sym(rho) at supra-saturation density is obtained by comparing the pion ratio pi(-)/pi(+) measured recently with FOPI at GSI and the IBUU04 model calculations. Detailed studies indicate that the power of determining the E-sym(rho)from pi(-)/pi(+) is enhanced with decreasing the beam energy to near the pion production threshold, showing a correlation to the increasing nuclear stopping. Among several heavy-ion reaction facilities in the world, the cooling storage ring (HIRFL-CSR), newly commissioned at Lanzhou, delivering heavy-ion beams up to 1 A GeV, to be coupled with advanced detectors will contribute significantly to further studies of the equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter.

Systematics of central heavy ion collisions in the 1A GeV regime

Using the large acceptance apparatus FOPI, we study central collisions in the reactions (energies in A GeV are given in parentheses): Ca-40 + Ca-40 (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.5, 1.93), Ni-58 + Ni-58 (0.15, 0.25, 0.4), Ru-96+Ru-96 (0.4, 1.0. 1.5), (96)zr+(96)zr 1.0, 1.5), Xe-129+CsI (0.15, 0.25, 0.4), Au-197 + Au-197 (0.09, 0.12, 0.15, 0.25, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5). The observables include cluster multiplicities, longitudinal and transverse rapidity distributions and stopping, and radial flow. The data are compared to earlier data where possible and to transport model simulations. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Power law behavior of the isotope yield distributions in the multifragmentation regime of heavy ion reactions

Isotope yield distributions in the multifragmentation regime were studied with high-quality isotope identification, focusing on the intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) produced in semiviolent collisions. The yields were analyzed within the framework of a modified Fisher model. Using the ratio of the mass-dependent symmetry energy coefficient relative to the temperature, a(sym)/T, extracted in previous work and that of the pairing term, a(p)/T, extracted from this work, and assuming that both reflect secondary decay processes, the experimentally observed isotope yields were corrected for these effects. For a given I = N - Z value, the corrected yields of isotopes relative to the yield of C-12 show a power law distribution Y (N, Z)/Y(C-12) similar to A(-tau) in the mass range 1 <= A <= 30, and the distributions are almost identical for the different reactions studied. The observed power law distributions change systematically when I of the isotopes changes and the extracted tau value decreases from 3.9 to 1.0 as I increases from -1 to 3. These observations are well reproduced by a simple deexcitation model, with which the power law distribution of the primary isotopes is determined to be tau(prim) = 2.4 +/- 0.2, suggesting that the disassembling system at the time of the fragment formation is indeed at, or very near, the critical point.

Isocaling and the symmetry energy in the multifragmentation regime of heavy-ion collisions

The ratio of the symmetry energy coefficient to temperature, a(sym)/T, in Fermi energy heavy-ion collisions, was experimentally extracted as a function of the fragment atomic number using isoscaling parameters and the variance of the isotope distributions. The extracted values were compared to the results of calculations made with an antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) model employing a statistical decay code to account for deexcitation of excited primary fragments. The experimental values are in good agreement with the values calculated from the final ground-state products but are significantly different from those characterizing the yields of the primary AMD fragments.

Crystal structure of a noval poly(aryl ether ketone) containing meta-phenyl linkage

Crystal structure of a novel aryl ether ketone polymer poly(aryl ether ketone ether ketone ketone containing meta-phenyl linkage)(PEKEKmK) was determined by means of WAXD and ED. An orthorhombic unit cell is proposed containing two chains with a=0.772 nm, b=0.604 nm and c=2.572 nm. According to the orthorhombic system, the 10 reflections of this polymer were indexed.

Crystal structure and variation in unit cell parameters with crystallization temperatures of poly (ether ketone ether ketone ketone)s containing meta-phenyl links (PEKEKmK)

The X-ray diffraction patterns of the crystalline aromatic ketone polymer PEKEKmK (aryl ether ketone ether ketone ketone polymer containing meta-phenyl links) have been investigated (for the chemical structure, see Formula). An orthorhombic unit cell is proposed to contain two chains with a = 0.772 nm, b = 0.604 nm and c = 2.572 nm. According to the orthorhombic system, the 11 reflections of this polymer were indexed. Meanwhile, variation in unit cell parameters with crystallization temperatures of PEKEKmK was also investigated. [GRAPHICS]

Synthesis and crystallization of a novel poly(ether ketone ether ketone ketone) containing meta-phenylene linkage: PEKEKK(T/I)

Poly(ether ketone ether ketone ketone) containing meta-phenylene linkage (PEKEKK(T/I)) was synthesized by electrophilic Friedel-Crafts acylation condensation of 1, 4-diphenoxybenzophenone with terephthaloyl chloride (T) and isophthaloyl chloride (I) with a T/I ratio of 1 and characterized by LR,DSC,TGA and WAXD. PEKEKK(T/I) has two different crystal structures: a conventional Farm I structure, the same as that observed in PEEK and PEK, wich is usually developed from melt crystallization, and a new Form II structure which can be developed from cold crystallization or solvent induced crystallization (by exposing the glassy sample to methylene chloride).

Crystallization behavior of a novel ether ketone polymer containing meta-phenylene linkage: PEKEKK (T/I)

Nonisothermal and isothermal melt crystallization kinetics of a novel aryl ether ketone polymer containing meta-phenylene linkages, PEKEKK (T/I), were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The Avrami equation modified by Jeziorny and a new approach by combining the Avrami equation with the Ozawa equation could describe the nonisothermal crystallization. Isothermal crystallization could also be described by the Avrami equation. The activation energies were 187 and 159 kJ/mol for nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization, respectively. Using the Hoffman-Weeks method, the equilibrium melting point T-m(o) was estimated as 353 degrees C. From the spherulitic growth equation proposed by Hoffman and Lauritzen, the nucleation parameter K-g of the isothermal melt crystallization was estimated as 5.49 x 10(5) K-2. The crystallization characteristics of PEKEKK (T/I) were compared with those of all-para PEKEKK. The differences were explained by differences in the chain flexibility of the two polymers.