N/Z Equilibration in Deep Inelastic Collisions and the Fragmentation of the Resulting Quasiprojectiles

When target and projectile nuclei have different N/Z, the quasiprojectiles formed in deep inelastic collisions should have a mean N/Z between that of the N/Z of the target and the N/Z of the projectile. This depends on the amount of N/Z equilibration that occurred. Six reaction systems with different N/Z between target and projectile were studied at Texas A{\&}M University Cyclotron Institute. The fragments were measured with FAUST, the Forward Array Using Silicon Technology. Two techniques were used to determine the quasiprojectile N/Z, which were then compared to a fully N/Z equilibrated system to study the amount of N/Z equilibration. The fragmentation of the quasiprojectiles was studied using isobaric, isotopic, fractional and mean N/Z yield comparisons between systems. The results show that the neutron richness of the system affects the fragment yields, with the neutron-rich nuclides populated preferentially by the neutron-rich systems. The N/Z distribution of the fragment yields was also studied and an inhomogeneous N/Z distribution between the LCPs (Z$<$3) and IMF's (Z$>$2) was observed. This research was funded in part by the Department of Energy through grant DE-FG03-93ER40773 and the Robert A. Welch Foundation through grant A-1266.