The Isospin Dependence Of The Nuclear Equation Of State Near The Critical Point - 19 February 2010

Seminar room GANIL

We discuss experimental evidence for a nuclear phase transition driven by the different concentration
of neutrons to protons. Different ratios of the neutron to proton concentrations lead to different
critical points for the phase transition. This is analogous to the phase transitions occurring in 4He-
3He liquid mixtures. We present experimental results which reveal the N/A (or Z/A) dependence of
the phase transition and discuss possible implications of these observations in terms of the Landau
Free Energy description of critical phenomena.