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Using the FOPI detector at GSI Darmstadt, excitation functions of collective flow components were measured for the Au+Au system, in the reaction plane and out of this plane, at seven incident energies ranging from 100AMeV to 800AMeV. The threshold energies, corresponding to the onset of sideward-flow (balance energy) and squeeze-out effect (transition energy), are extracted from extrapolations of these excitation functions toward lower beam energies for charged products with Z greater than or equal to 2. The transition energy is found to be larger than the balance energy. The impact parameter dependence of both balance and transition energies, when extrapolated to central collisions, suggests comparable although slightly higher values than the threshold energy for the radial flow. The relevant parameter seems to be the energy deposited into the system in order to overcome the attractive nuclear forces.

Azimuthal distributions of charged particles and intermediate mass fragments emitted in Au+Au collisions at 600A MeV have been measured using the FOPI facility at GSI-Darmstadt. Data show a strong increase of the in-plane azimuthal anisotropy ratio with the charge of the detected fragment. Intermediate mass fragments are found to exhibit a strong momentum-space alignment with respect of the reaction plane. The experimental results are presented as a function of the polar centre-of-mass angle and over a broad range of impact parameters. They are compared to the predictions of the Isospin Quantum Molecular Dynamics model using three different parametrisations of the equation of state. We show that such highly accurate data provide stringent test for microscopic transport models and can potentially constrain separately the stiffness of the nuclear equation of state and the momentum dependence of the nuclear interaction.