Paper detail

Bimodality as a signal of the nuclear liquid-gas phase transition

Here we present an explicit counterexample to a bimodality concept as the unique signal of first order phase transition. Using an exact solution of the simplified version of the statistical multifragmentation model we demonstrate that the bimodal distributions can naturally appear in infinite system without a phase transition in the regions of the negative values of the surface tension coefficient. Also we propose a new parameterization for the compressible nuclear liquid which is consistent with the L. van Hove axioms of statistical mechanics. As a result the proposed model does not lead to the irregular behaviour of the isotherms in the mixed phase region which is typical for mean-field models. Peculiarly, the suggested approach to account for the nuclear liquid compressibility automatically leads to an appearance of an additional state that in many respects resembles the physical antinuclear matter.