  This paper presents our recent efforts to study the momentum distributions as
well as the production of neutron-rich rare isotopes with heavy-ion beams in
the energy region of 15 MeV/nucleon. Experimental cross sections of
neutron-rich nuclides from collisions of a 86 Kr (15 MeV/nucleon) beam with 64
Ni and 58 Ni targets are presented. Experimental data were obtained from the
previous work of our group with the MARS mass spectrometer at the Cyclotron
Institute of Texas A&M University. On that note, detailed calculations of
yields and momentum distributions of neutron-rich projectile-like fragments are
presented for the interaction of 86 Kr with 64 Ni and compared with the
aforementioned experimental data. The calculations were based on a two-step
general approach: the dynamical stage of the primary interaction was described
with the phenomenological deep-inelastic transfer model (DIT) and the
microscopic constrained molecular dynamics model (CoMD); the deexcitation stage
of the excited projectile fragments was described with the statistical
binary-decay model GEMINI. The experimental data show an enhancement in the
production of neutron-rich isotopes close to the projectile, and interestingly
of heavier than the projectile neutron-rich nuclei. The behaviour of the data
is relative to the predictions of the CoMD/GEMINI calculation. The study of the
momentum distributions offers a novel route to study the reaction mechanism
that dominates the production of the fragments of interest in peripheral
heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. In the future, we plan to
analyze experimental data that were obtained from the MAGNEX spectometer at the
INFN-LNS in Catania, Italy.
