Breakup densities of hot nuclei

Breakup densities of hot 197Au-like residues have been deduced from the systematic trends of Coulomb parameters required to fit intermediate-mass-fragment kinetic-energy spectra. The results indicate emission from nuclei near normal nuclear density below an excitation energy E(*)/A less, similar 2 MeV, followed by a gradual decrease to a near-constant value of rho/rho(0) approximately 0.3 for E(*)/A greater, similar 5 MeV. Temperatures derived from these data with a density-dependent Fermi-gas model yield a nuclear caloric curve that is generally consistent with those derived from isotope ratios.