Intermediate Mass Fragment Flow as a Probe to the Nuclear Equation of State

The transverse flow of intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) has been investigated for the 35 MeV/u 70Zn+70Zn, 64Zn+64Zn, and 64Ni+64Ni systems. A transition from the IMF transverse flow strongly depending on the mass of the system, in the most violent collisions, to a dependence on the charge of the system, for the peripheral reactions, is shown. This transition was shown to be sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy using the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics model. The results present a new observable, the IMF transverse flow, that can be used to probe the nuclear Equation of State. Comparison with the simulation demonstrated a preference for a stiff density dependence of the symmetry energy.