Statistic approach based on the kinetics of a first-order phase transition is proposed for the description of multifragmentation phenomenon. We start from the thermalized gaslike system of nucleons and calculate the fragmentation yields according to classical nucleation theory. The fragmentation distributions are derived from the steady-state solution of a Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function. Curvature energy and Coulomb energy in the form provided by the Wigner-Seitz approximation are included into the fragment formation energy. The fit to experimental data is performed. It is shown that the Coulomb interaction may lead to the deviation of the fragmentation yields from the power-law dependence. This prediction may be verified experimentally in heavy-ion central collisions at the energies about 40A MeV. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

• Received 17 April 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.54.2493