A critical phenomenon in nuclear multifragmentation: Preliminary evaluation of the nuclear matter critical exponents

The Purdue High Energy Nuclear Physics Group has suggested that a second order phase transition may exist in nuclear multifragmentation. In the past, fragmentation experiments have been able to determine only the systematics of the process, as only limited statistics exclusive data were previously available. The EOS heavy-ion experiment at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory began a new era of multifragmentation experiments, in which full event coverage was possible with high statistics. In this thesis the values of the critical exponents $\tau,\ \beta$ and $\gamma$ are determined for high statistics 1.0 AGeV exclusive Au + C multifragmentation data, using an analysis method developed from studies of small percolation systems. The values of these critical exponents are discussed within the context of phase transition theory