Extending the canonical thermodynamic model: Inclusion of hypernuclei

The canonical thermodynamic model has been used frequently to describe the disassembly of hot nuclear matter consisting of neutrons and protons. Such matter is formed in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. Here we extend the method to include, in addition to neutrons and protons, Λ particles. This allows us to include productions of hypernuclei in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. We can easily predict average mass number of hypernuclei produced and values of relative cross-sections of different nuclei. Computation of absolute cross-section was not attempted at this stage and will require much more detailed work.