Nuclear spin polarization following intermediate-energy heavy-ion reactions

Abstract

Intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions can produce a spin polarization of the projectile-like species. Spin polarization has been observed for both nucleon removal and nucleon pickup processes. Qualitative agreement with measured spin polarization as a function of the momentum of the projectile-like fragment is found in a kinematical model that considers conservation of linear and angular momentum and assumes peripheral interactions between the fast projectile and target. Improvements to the kinematical model are discussed that aim to achieve quantitative agreement with spin polarization data from both the nucleon removal and pickup processes.