We report results of studies of heavy-ion collisions in the classical limit. These studies are carried out with two different nucleon-nucleon interaction models. Both models give the empirical energy and density of nuclear matter; however, the compressibility is 250 MeV for one and 535 MeV for the other. Exact simulations of La+La and Au+Au collisions at 50 to 600 MeV/nucleon laboratory energies indicate that these models are not totally unrealistic and may be pedagogically useful. The results also indicate that collisions at ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathrm{lab}}$≳400 MeV/nucleon are more sensitive to the interaction model. The models are then used to study the accuracy of the Vlasov-Nordheim approximation in the classical limit by comparing its results for equal mass (A=50) collisions with the exact results at ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathrm{lab}}$≳450 MeV/nucleon. We find that it is a reasonable approximation and it reproduces most of the observed effects when the known equation of state (EOS) and collision cross sections (${\mathrm{\sigma }}_{\mathrm{eff}}$) are used. However, it appears difficult to determine both the EOS and ${\mathrm{\sigma }}_{\mathrm{eff}}$ by fitting the exact results with VN simulations.

• Received 1 March 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.42.372