Breakup Densities of Hot Nuclei.*

Breakup densities of hot $^{197}$Au-like residues have been deduced from the systematic trends of Coulomb parameters required to fit intermediate-mass-fragment kinetic-energy spectra. The results indicate emission from nuclei near normal nuclear density below an excitation energy E*/A $\mathbin{\lower.3ex\hbox{$\buildrel<\over {\smash{\scriptstyle\sim}\vphantom{_x}}$}} $ 2 MeV, followed by a gradual decrease to a near-constant value of $\rho $/$\rho _{0} \quad \sim $ 3 for E*/A $\mathbin{\lower.3ex\hbox{$\buildrel>\over {\smash{\scriptstyle\sim}\vphantom{_x}}$}} $ 5 MeV. Temperatures derived from these data with a density-dependent Fermi-gas model yield a nuclear caloric curve that is generally consistent with those derived from isotope ratios.