We have investigated the particle production and fragmentation of nuclei participating in the interactions of 10.6 GeV/n gold nuclei in nuclear emulsions. A new criterion has been found to distinguish between the interactions of these gold nuclei with the light (H,C,N,O) and heavy (Ag, Br) target nuclei in the emulsion. This has allowed separate analyses of the multiplicity and pseudo-rapidity distributions of the singly charged particles emitted in Au-(H,C,N,O) and Au-(Ag,Br) interactions, as well as of the modes of breakup of the projectile and target nuclei. The pseudo-rapidity distributions show strong forward asymmetries, particularly for the interactions with the light nuclei. Heavy target nuclei produce a more severe breakup of the projectile gold nucleus than do the lighter targets. A negative correlation between the number of fragments emitted from the target nuclei and the degree of centrality of the collisions has been observed, which can be attributed to the total destruction of the relatively light target nuclei by these very heavy projectile nuclei.
Neutron production, in coincidence with fragments emitted in the 40Ca+H reaction at Elab=357A and 565A MeV, has been measured using a 3-module version of the multifunctional neutron spectrometer MUFFINS. The mean neutron multiplicities for neutrons detected in the angular range covered by MUFFINS (0°−3.2°) have been estimated from the comparison between the neutron cross sections, in coincidence with the fragments, and the elemental cross sections. We have found evidence for a preequilibrium emission of prompt neutrons in superposition to a “slower” deexcitation of the equilibrated remnant by emission of nucleons and fragments, as already seen in inclusive rapidity distributions. The energy dependence of the inclusive neutron production cross sections, measured in a previous work, is here interpreted as due to the stronger neutron focusing in the forward direction at the higher energy. Comparison with a BNV+phase space coalescence model is discussed.
Relativistic iron, lanthanum, holmium, and gold projectile nuclei with several different energies have been fragmented in targets of polyethylene, carbon, aluminum, copper, and lead. Our detectors cleanly resolve the individual charges of the heaviest of these fragments and provide some limited information on the masses. We have measured 1256 elemental partial cross sections for the production of fragments from interactions in these target materials. Values have been derived for another 417 cross sections in a hydrogen medium. These cross sections depend on the energy and mass of the projectile nuclei as well as on the nature of the target. Total charge-changing cross sections were also found, but only in a composite target, and have been shown to be weakly dependent on energy. The mean mass losses observed for fragments that have lost a few protons show that typically many neutrons are lost with each proton, producing fragment nuclei that must be highly proton rich, and consequently very unstable. The cross sections for charge pickup on heavy targets show a rapid increase with decreasing energy, particularly for the heaviest targets. The systematics of the dependencies of the partial cross sections will be discussed in a companion paper.
Oxygen and sulfur nuclei with energies of 200 GeV/nucleon have been allowed to interact in nuclear emulsions exposed at CERN. These emulsions have been scanned with a minimum bias so that essentially all the interactions occurring were detected. Nearly 1000 interactions of each projectile have been analyzed. We present results on the multiplicity distributions, the pseudorapidity distributions, and the fragmentation of the projectile and target nuclei. It is shown that the mean number of intranuclear collisions in each interaction, calculated from a superposition model, provides a useful parameter for organizing the data. We conclude that there are no significant deviations even at these energies from models, such as the venus model, describing the interactions as being the superposition of individual nucleon-nucleon collisions.
The Krakow-Louisiana-Minnesota-Moscow Collaboration (KLMM) has exposed a set of emulsion chambers with lead targets to a 158 GeV/c per nucleon beam of Pb208 nuclei, and we report the initial analysis of 40 high-multiplicity Pb-Pb collisions. To test the validity of the superposition model of nucleus-nucleus interactions in this new regime, we compare the shapes of the pseudorapidity distributions with FRITIOF Monte Carlo model calculations, and find close agreement for even the most central events. We characterize head-on collisions as having a mean multiplicity of 1550±120 and a peak pseudorapidity density of 390±30. These estimates are significantly lower than our FRITIOF calculations. © 1996 The American Physical Society.
The degree of excitation of the emulsion target nuclei due to nuclear interactions of oxygen and sulfur projectiles at 200 GeV/nucleon incident energy has been investigated. Using the plausible assumption that the numberNb of slow particles emitted from the struck target nucleus can be interpreted as a measure of the temperatureT of the residual nucleus, we have found that there exists a critical temperatureTc of the excited target nucleus. For Ag and Br target nuclei this temperature corresponds to <Nb>≌12 and it is attained when the impact parameters are less than about 4 fm.
Measurements of the partial charge-changing cross sections for the fragmentation of relativistic iron, lanthanum, holmium, and gold nuclei of several different energies incident on targets of polyethylene, carbon, aluminum, and copper have been reported in an accompanying paper. This paper describes the systematics of the variations of these cross sections with energy, projectile, target, and fragment. We have been able to generate a seven-parameter global fit to 795 measured cross sections for the heavy targets which fits the data with a standard deviation of 7%. We have also generated a similar global fit to 303 measured cross sections for a hydrogen target which fits the data with a standard deviation of 10%. These representations imply that the hypothesis of limiting fragmentation is only accurate to some 20–30 %. Weak factorization can apply, but fits that are marginally better, and more physically plausible, can be obtained without factorization. We have identified, and discussed, a number of caveats to the applicability of these fits outside, and inside, the range of energies and masses covered. Excessively large cross sections for the loss of a single proton from the projectile nuclei suggest electromagnetic dissociation. The cross sections for fragments that experience large charge changes appear to become independent of the size of the charge change. Very heavy projectiles have a significant probability of experiencing fission.
We have measured the charge-changing cross sections of 10.6 GeV/nucleon Au197 nuclei interacting in targets of CH2 (polyethylene), C, Al, Cu, Sn, and Pb. Cross sections for H are calculated from those measured in C and CH2. The total charge-changing cross sections are higher than those measured at energies of ≤1 GeV/nucleon. The measured cross sections for the heavier targets are somewhat larger than those predicted by a model based on data taken at lower energies with lighter targets. Partial charge-changing cross sections for the production of fragments from the incident Au projectiles were measured for charge changes (ΔZ) from ΔZ=+1,80Hg, down to approximately ΔZ=-29,50Sn. In comparison to lower energy measurements, these partial cross sections are found to be smaller for small ΔZ and larger or the same for large ΔZ. The H partial cross sections are found to follow a power law in ΔZ similar to that for heavier targets, instead of the exponential form observed at lower energies. Factorization is found to hold for all partial cross sections with ΔZ greater than two. In the heavier targets, the cross sections for one and two proton removal have significant contributions from electromagnetic dissociation. The electromagnetic dissociation contribution to the total cross section is derived and found to be relatively small, but with a strong dependence on the charge of the target nuclei of the form ZT1.75±0.01.
A liquid hydrogen target was used to study the nuclear fragmentation of beams of relativistic heavy ions, Ne22 to Ni58, over an energy range 400 to 900 MeV/nucleon. The experiments were carried out at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Bevalac HISS facility, using the charge-velocity-rigidity method to identify the charged fragments. Here we describe the general concept of the experiment and present total charge-changing cross sections obtained from 17 separate runs. These new measured cross sections display an energy dependence which follows semiempirical model predictions. The mass dependence of the cross sections behaves as predicted by optical models, but within the experimental energy range, the optical model parameters display a clear energy dependence. The isospin of the projectile nuclei also appears to be an important factor in the interaction process.
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