Exploring the Symmetry Energy with Isospin Effects in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Expérience GANIL/INDRA/VAMOSInternational audienceIn this contribution we investigate the symmetry energy term of the nuclear equation of state by a detailed study of the isotopic distributions produced in 40,48Ca+40,48Ca collisions at E/A = 35 MeV. The experiment was performed at GANIL where we coupled the VAMOS spectrometer with the 4π INDRA detctor. The VAMOS is used to measure the isotopic distributions of the projectile like fragment (PLF) with high resolution, and INDRA is used, to estimate the impact parameter and excitation energy by measuring all charged products emitted in coincidence with PLF. This coupling allows us to estimate the relative contribution of surface and volume terms to the symmetry energy in the nuclear EOS. The knowledge of these relative contributions and, especially, the relevance of the surface term are key to explore to what extent one can learn about the density dependence of the symmetry energy in infinite nuclear matter from multifragmentation of finite nuclei and from nuclear reaction dynamics