Projectile-like Fragment production studies using coincident neutrons

Intermediate and relativistic heavy ion beam facilities, like eventually the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), produce secondary beams for experiments through the creation of Projectile-like Fragments (PLFs). The short-lived and excited PLFs de-excite into radioactive isotopes through gamma and neutron emission. Production cross sections and momentum distributions give information about PLFs, but the complete fragmentation process is still unclear. The present work aims to understand the mechanism that occurs between beam and target nuclei by studying the multiplicity and kinetic energy distribution of neutrons emitted in coincidence with charged fragments.

The MoNA Collaboration used the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) to identify reaction produced neutrons at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory with an 86 MeV/u beam of 32Mg incident on a 9Be target. The Sweeper magnet bends the charged fragments that were then detected by a suite of charged particle detectors. Preliminary results of the neutron multiplicities and kinetic energy distributions analyzed in coincidence with the charged fragments will be presented.