Data on the mean multiplicity ofπ- produced in minimum bias proton-proton, proton-neutron and proton-nucleus interactions as well as central nucleus-nucleus collisions at momenta of 1.4–400 GeV/c per nucleon have been compiled and studied. The results for neutron-neutron and nucleon-nucleon interactions were then constructed. The dependence of the mean pion multiplicity in proton-nucleus interactions and central collisions of identical nuclei are studied as a function of the collision energy and the nucleus mass number. The number of produced pions per participant nucleon in central collisions of identical nuclei is found to be independent of the number of participants at a fixed incident momentum per nucleon. The mean multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons per participant nucleon for central nucleus-nucleus collisions is lower by about 0.12 than the corresponding multiplicity for nucleon-nucleon interactions atpLAB≲15 A·GeV/c, whereas the result at 200 A·GeV/c is above the corresponding nucleon-nucleon multiplicity. This may indicate change of the collision dynamics at high energy.
We have measured the multiplicities of particles emitted in collisions between π's and p's of 1.5 to 2.5 GeV/c momentum with He and Ne nuclei in a streamer chamber. The chamber gas served as the target as well as the detecting medium. Because of the low density and 4π solid angle of the detector, it was possible to detect nuclear fragments with energies less than 5 MeV, and to essentially count all the particles emitted in a collision. Event distributions as a function of track multiplicity were obtained as well as correlated event distributions. NUCLEAR REACTIONS He (proton or pion, fragments and pions), Ne (proton or pion, fragments and pions), E=1.5, 2.0, 2.5 BeV/c; streamer chamber gas used as target with fragment energies as low as 5 MeV. Measured multiplicities and correlations of produced particle types.
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