Nuclear properties at finite temperature in a two-component statistical model

An exactly solvable model is developed for multifragmentation which is an extension of an earlier model, to two-component systems. The model is quite versatile. One can use experimental binding energies and excited states of clusters as inputs to the model and compute, rather easily, many observables. In this paper we pay particular attention to specific heats (hence the caloric curves) of certain target projectile combinations. In idealized cases without Coulomb interactions, large systems show signatures of a first order phase transition. The caloric curves change significantly when Coulomb energy is included. copyright 1999 The American Physical Society