Formation of excited systems with a wide range in N/Z

Fragments from the breakup of 32 MeV/nucleon ²⁰Na, ²⁰Ne, and ²⁰F projectile nuclei were measured with isotopic resolution using the FAUST detector array. Complete reconstruction of the fragmenting source was performed on an event-by-event basis. Events analyzed in this study were restricted to those with a summed fragment charge equal to the beam in which all fragments were isotopically identified. The change in neutron content of the projectile could be inferred from the complete isotopic reconstruction of the quasiprojectile. The 〈N/Z〉 present in the fragmenting source is not equal to the N/Z of the initial beam; there has been a shift toward the valley of stability. Additionally, there is now a distribution in the N/Z of the fragmenting system. Multineutron transfer from the neutron-rich target was observed for proton-rich projectiles.