The issue of cluster production in heavy-ion collisions is addressed in a new manner, by implementing cluster correlation into the quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) transport model. We demonstrate for the first time, the good potentialities of this popular transport approach in the unified description of light-cluster production including the deuteron, the triton, ${}^3\mathrm{He}$, and the $\alpha$ cluster in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. Both the INDRA and FOPI experimental data of the yields of light clusters and the charge distributions of heavier fragments are reasonably reproduced in a unified manner. The effects of both the cluster binding energies and the Pauli repulsion are also shown to play crucial roles in the production of clusters.

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• Nuclear fragmentation
• Nuclear matter in neutron stars
• Nuclear reactions