[en] A Comment on the Letter by Yanez, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3585 (1999). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society

[en] We have determined the critical properties of infinite uncharged nuclear matter based on cluster emission data. To do this, three obstacles had to be overcome: finite size effects, the Coulomb interaction and appropriate physical picture (not particles coexisting in a box). That lead to the complete liquid to vapor phase diagram of neutral, symmetric, uncharged nuclear matter. (paper)

[en] The interplay of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics is discussed with special attention to mesoscopic systems and phase transitions

[en] Fission excitation functions have been measured for a chain of neighboring compound nuclei from ²⁰⁷Po to ²¹²Po. We present a new analysis which provides a determination of the fission barriers and ground state shell effects with nearly spectroscopic accuracy. The accuracy achieved in this analysis may lead to a future detailed exploration of the saddle mass surface and its spectroscopy

[en] The Clapeyron equation is adequate in describing the properties of any finite Van der Waals-like system, including Ising-Potts models. Coulomb interaction destroys the generality of solutions for finite systems, and the resulting metastability prevents meaningful application of statistical mechanics. The effective closure of unstable channels by high barriers allows for negative heat capacities only for A<30

[en] A gas of MIT bags has peculiar properties, one of which is that of not existing. We shall discuss its instability against coalescence. The absence of surface energy makes the bags already critical at their unique temperature T_H. The addition of a surface energy does not seem to cure the problem.

[en] The cluster description of near coexistence phases (e.g. Fisher theory) requires an evaluation of cluster surface entropy. This surface degeneracy can be estimated with lattice models where clusters appear. The maximum probability lies near the maximum cluster surface. At low temperatures, clusters are forced to be nearly spherical by the surface energy and the associated Boltzmann factor. At higher temperatures and near criticality, the fractal dimension of clusters changes so that clusters become fractal. In the MIT bag model, where there is no surface energy, bags are always fractal.

[en] We suggest, on general principles, that the isotopic distributions and thus isoscaling are affected by an entropic symmetry term, which is present even when the symmetry energy term is absent

[en] The natural log of experimental nuclear level densities at low energy is linear with energy. This can be interpreted in terms of a nearly 1st order phase transition from a superfluid to an ideal gas of quasi particles. The transition temperature coincides with the BCS critical temperature and yields gap parameters in good agreement with the values extracted from even- odd mass differences from rotational states. This converging evidence supports the relevance of the BCS theory to atomic nuclei

[en] We report on the yields and energy spectra of neutrons emitted in several deuteron-induced reactions at low energy. The main features of these reactions are presented and discussed with regards to their potential use as sources of epithermal neutron beams for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). Among the studied reactions, the ¹³C(d,n)¹⁴N presents features potentially interesting for a compact accelerator-based neutron source for BNCT