  The caloric curve for mononuclear configurations is studied with a schematic
model. We investigate the dependence of the entropy on the density and
effective mass profiles. A plateau in the caloric curve is a direct result of
decreasing density and the destruction of correlations with increasing
excitation. The mononuclear regime is metastable with respect to binary fission
at low excitation energy and unstable with respect to multifragmentation at
high excitation. The statistical framework presented here is suitable to treat
scenarios where experimental conditions are set to favor population of highly
excited mononuclear states.
