Multifragmentation with Brownian one-body dynamics

A first application is made of Brownian One-Body Dynamics to nuclear multifragmentation. A gold nucleus is compressed to double density and then let free to evolve under the combined influence of the effective one-body field and the residual two-body collision processes, with the effects of the fluctuations included whenever local spinodal instability occurs. The system quickly expands into a hollow and unstable configuration which transforms into several intermediate-mass fragments. The analysis of the resulting fragment pattern suggests that the model provides a physically reasonable description of nuclear multifragmentation processes.