Conditions for equivalence of Statistical Ensembles in Nuclear Multifragmentation

Abstract

Statistical models based on canonical and grand canonical ensembles are extensively used to study intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. The underlying physical assumption behind canonical and grand canonical models is fundamentally different, and in principle agree only in the thermodynamical limit when the number of particles become infinite. Nevertheless, we show that these models are equivalent in the sense that they predict similar results if certain conditions are met even for finite nuclei. In particular, the results converge when nuclear multifragmentation leads to the formation of predominantly nucleons and low mass clusters. The conditions under which the equivalence holds are amenable to present day experiments.