  The decoupling and freeze-out of energetic nuclear collisions is analysed in
terms of transparent semi-classical decoupling formulae. They provide a smooth
transition and generalise frequently employed instantaneous freeze-out
procedures. Simple relations between the damping width and the duration of the
decoupling process are presented and the implications on various physical
phenomena arising from the expansion and decay dynamics of the highly
compressed hadronic matter generated in high energy nuclear collisions are
discussed.

Nuclear Theory;High Energy Physics - Phenomenology