  First searches for the coherent dissociation of relativistic oxygen nuclei
into four a particles are reported. It is shown that reactions of this type are
characterized by a significantly lower decay temperature than the conventional
multifragmentation of residual projectile nuclei. The momentum spectra and
correlations of a panicles are not reproduced by the simple statistical model
of direct fragmentation. The possibility that the oxygen nucleus undergoing
fragmentation acquires a nonzero angular momentum in the collision process is
discussed.
