Signatures of binary collision dynamics in the reaction 197Au + 208Pb at 29 MeV/nucleon

An exclusive measurement of neutrons and charged reaction products was performed for the reaction 197Au + 208Pb at E/A = 29 MeV. The measured kinematical fragment-fragment and fragment-neutron correlations are consistent with a binary character of the first reaction step, for the full range of coincident fragments observed. For rather peripheral collisions, corresponding to energy losses of up to 460 MeV, this reaction character is established employing a kinematical-coincidence method. For more central collisions associated with intermediate-mass fragment emission, this conclusion is drawn from the bimodal character of the coincident neutron velocity distribution. The observed neutron emission patterns and fragment distributions are in quantitative agreement with predictions by a damped-reaction model, accounting for the statistical decay of the primary fragments