Abrasion-ablation in reactions between relativistic heavy ions

Abstract

The abrasion-ablation model for reactions between relativistic heavy ions is derived from Glauber's multiple scattering theory. Simple expressions are found for the abrasion cross section and for the excitation energy of the projectile after abrasion. Both quantities depend on nuclear densities and on the nucleon-nucleon forward scattering amplitude. They do not contain any adjustable parameters. With a very simple model for the ablation process, fragmentation cross sections for the production of individual isotopes are calculated. The agreement with experiment is good for most cases. Systematic discrepancies are observed and are analyzed in terms of an extension of the abrasion-ablation model.