Momentum distributions of projectile spectators: a new tool to investigate the equation of state of nuclear matter Original Research Article

High resolution measurements with a magnetic spectrometer show a post-acceleration of the projectile-like residues produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The observed post-acceleration increases with the mass loss of the residual fragments. Lighter residues are observed to be produced at velocities even higher than the projectile. A dependence with the mass of the target and the energy of beam is also observed. This effect is interpreted as the response of the projectile spectator to the participant blast indicating a momentum dependence of the nuclear mean field.