Experimental observation of the critical behavior in light nuclear system

A wide variety of observables indicate that maximal fluctuations in the disassembly of hot nuclei with A - 36 occur at an excitation energy of 5.6±0.5 MeV/u and temperature of 8.3±0.5 MeV. Associated with this point of maximal fluctuations are a number of quantitative indicators of apparent critical behavior. The associated caloric curve does not appear to show a flattening. such as that seen for heavier systems and Zipf law has been observed around an excitation energy of 5.6±0.5 MeV/u. This suggests that, in contrast to similar signals seen for liquid-gas transitions in heavier nuclei, the observed behavior in these very light nuclei is associated with a transition much closer to the critical point. (author)