Nuclear Contact Times in Dissipative Heavy Ion Collsions Measured Via γ-Ray Spectroscopy

Electron spectra have been measured for elastic and dissipative U + Au collisions at 8.6 MeV/u and analysed within a simple schematic model which describes γ-ray emission in the presence of a nuclear contact time and a total kinetic energy loss (TKEL). A nearly linear dependence of the mean nuclear contact time τ and TKEL was found, reaching τ = 1.1 * 10-21 s with a variance σ = ±0.4 * 10-21 s for a TKEL of (400 ± 50) MeV.