Multifragmentation in central collisions at intermediate energies: a fast process?

The kinematical characteristics of fragments and light particles observed in central highly fragmented nuclear collisions at intermediate energies are compared with the results of a model assuming that the initial momentum distribution of the nucleons inside the two partners of the reaction has no time to relax before the disassembly of the system. The rather good agreement between the results of the model and the experimental data suggests that multifragmentation is a fast process with a strong memory of the entrance channel.