Effects of nucleon-nucleon short-range correlation on fragment generation in isotopic nuclear reactions*

Abstract The effects of nucleon-nucleon short-range correlations leading to the high-momentum tail (HMT) in the nucleon momentum distribution are studied using the isospin- and momentum-dependent Lanzhou quantum molecular dynamics (LQMD) transport model. Based on the transport model, we study the effects of the HMT of the nucleon momentum distribution on initialization in isotopic nuclear reactions at a beam energy of 120 MeV/u. The single and double ratios of gas-phase neutron and proton spectra are analyzed and compared with experimental data in central + and + collisions. The HMT affects the single ratios but not the double ratios, which can be employed to study other isospin effects more effectively. The ratio of triton to of light clusters contained in the gas-phase nucleons is also influenced by the HMT. Combining the QMD transport model that can describe multi-fragmentation and the production of fragments in intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions, we study the short-range correlation effect on fragment generation. We find that the isospin-dependent HMT significantly affects the fragment multiplicity distribution and average neutron-to-proton ratio of produced isobars.