Temperatures of exploding nuclei

Breakup temperatures in central collisions of 197Au+197Au at bombarding energies E/A = 50 to 200 MeV were determined with two methods. Isotope temperatures, deduced from double ratios of hydrogen, helium, and lithium isotopic yields, increase monotonically with bombarding energy from 5 to 12 MeV, in qualitative agreement with a scenario of chemical freeze-out after adiabatic expansion. Excited-state temperatures, derived from yield ratios of states in 4He, 5,6Li, and 8Be, are about 5 MeV, independent of the projectile energy, and seem to reflect the internal temperature of fragments at their final separation from the system.