Study of the decay of hot nuclear systems formed in Au-induced reactions at E/A=60 MeV

Multifragment production was measured for the 197Au +12C, 27Al, 51V, 63Cu and 197Au reactions at E/A= 60 MeV. Comparison of experimental observables to calculations with a dynamical code coupled to a statistical model indicates agreement with some features of the experimental data. Furthermore the logarithms of the branching ratios for binary, ternary, quaternary, and quinary decays plotted as a function of E-1/2 show a linear dependence that ,strongly suggests a statistical competition between the various multifraigment channels. Finally, by utilizing the momentum tensor, the shape of the most central events in momentum space has been determined