Yields of projectile fragments in sulphur-emulsion interactions at 3.7 A GeV

This work presents the basic characteristics of singly,doubly and heavily charged projectile fragments(PFs) emitted in inelastic interactions of ~(32)S ions with photo-emulsion nuclei at Dubna energy(3.7 A GeV).Our experimental data are compared with the corresponding data for other projectiles at the same incident energy.The study of mean multiplicities of different charged PFs against the projectile mass shows a power-law relationship.The multiplicity distributions of singly and doubly charged PFs have been fitted well with a Gaussian distribution function.The yields of PFs broken up from the interactions of ~(32)S projectile nuclei with different target nuclei are studied.The beam energy dependence in terms of the various order moments is studied as well.     

Characteristics of alpha projectile fragments emission in interaction of nuclei with emulsion

The properties of the relativistic alpha fragments produced in interactions of ⁸⁴Kr at around 1 A GeV in nuclear emulsion are investigated. The experimental results are compared with the similar results obtained from various projectiles with emulsion interactions at different energies. The total, partial nuclear cross-sections and production rates of alpha fragmentation channels in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions and their dependence on the mass number and initial energy of the incident projectile nucleus are investigated. The yields of multiple alpha fragments emitted from the interactions of projectile nuclei with the nuclei of light, medium and heavy target groups of emulsion-detector are discussed and they indicate that the projectile-breakup mechanism seems to be free from the target mass number. It is found that the multiplicity distributions of alpha fragments are well described by the Koba-Nielsen-Olesen (KNO) scaling presentation. The mean multiplicities of the freshly produced or newly created charged secondary particles, normally known as shower and secondary particles associated with target in the events where the emission of alpha fragments were accompanied by heavy projectile fragments having Z ≥ 3 seem to be constant as the alpha fragments multiplicity increases, and exhibit a behavior independent of the alpha fragments multiplicity.     

Intra- and intergroup azimuthal correlations of particles in the interaction of gold nuclei with silver and bromine nuclei of track emulsions at the projectile energy of 10.6 GeV per nucleon

Inter- and intragroup azimuthal correlations of target and projectile fragments and of shower particles in the interactions between gold nuclei of energy 10.6 GeV per nucleon and silver and bromine nuclei of a track emulsion are studied at intermediate values of the impact parameter. The asymmetry index β′₁ and the collinearity index β′₂ of groups’ asymmetry vectors are used to study azimuthal correlations between two and three groups of particles. The interplay of effects of intra- and intergroup azimuthal particle correlations is investigated.     

Nuclear fragmentation degree in the production of light projectile fragments

The projectile-target multiplicity correlations at the lowest (3.7 A GeV) and highest (200 A GeV) available energies in Sulfur-emulsion interactions are investigated in the framework of the participant-spectator model. We examined the light projectile spectator (singly, N_z=1 and doubly, N_z=2 charged projectile fragments). The measured average multiplicities of N_z=1 and N_z=2 at both incident energies showed a decrease with increasing the fragment charge, as well as the average values within experimental errors showed independence on the incident energy. The multiplicity measurements of different emitted secondary charged particles (produced particles, shower tracks, and target fragments, gray and black tracks) in the interactions of ³²S-Em at 3.7 A and 200 A GeV were carried out. However, the correlation between the mean multiplicities of secondary charged particles and both of the singly and doubly charged projectile fragments were investigated to shed some light on the interface of spectator and participant regions, and on the possible influences of the phenomena from the two regions on the collision dynamics.     

Two source emission behavior of projectile fragments alpha in 84Kr interactions at around 1 GeV per nucleon

The emission of projectile fragments alpha has been studied in ⁸⁴Kr interactions with nuclei of the nuclear emulsion detector composition at relativistic energy below 2 GeV per nucleon. The angular distribution of projectile fragments alpha in terms of transverse momentum could not be explained by a straight and clean-cut collision geometry hypothesis of Participant — Spectator (PS) Model. Therefore, it is assumed that projectile fragments alpha were produced from two separate sources that belong to the projectile spectator region differing drastically in their temperatures. It has been clearly observed that the emission of projectile fragments alpha are from two different sources. The contribution of projectile fragments alpha from contact layer or hot source is a few percent of the total emission of projectile fragments alphas. Most of the projectile fragments alphas are emitted from the cold source.     

Fragmentation and particle production in interactions of 10.6 GeV/N gold nuclei with hydrogen, light and heavy targets

We have investigated the interactions of 10.6 GeV/n Au in nuclear emulsion. Two methods of separating interactions into those with hydrogen, light (C,N,O) and heavy (Ag,Br) target nuclei were used, giving almost identical results, which strengthened our confidence in the correctness of these methods. We also measured the angular distributions of singly and multiply charged relativistic particles emitted from the interaction vertices and the charges of the multiply charged projectile fragments. The fragmentation of the projectile Au nuclei and of the target nuclei were analyzed. The multiparticle production was studied as a function of the mass of the target nucleus. The multiplicity and the pseudorapidity distributions of relativistic singly charged particles were compared with the predictions of the RQMD Model. Received: 22 April 1998 / Published online: 8 September 1998     

Interactions of 10.6 GeV/nucleon gold nuclei in nuclear emulsion

Stacks of nuclear emulsion were exposed at the Brookhaven AGS to a 10.6 GeV/n beam of gold nuclei in the BNL 868 experiment. A preliminary analysis of the main features of the interactions of these nuclei is reported here and compared with those observed previously at lower energies,E<1 GeV/n. The multiplicity and pseudo-rapidity distributions of the singly charged particles emitted both in central and in minimum bias samples of interactions have been analyzed in order to look for any non random effects indicative of the nuclear state during the interactions. The fragmentation characteristics of the gold projectiles appear to be different at 10.6 GeV/n from those at ≦1 GeV/n incident energy. Fission of the gold projectiles, which was relatively frequent at low energy, is almost entirely suppressed. Some of alpha particles from the projectile are emitted with very large transverse momenta. In gold-emulsion interactions the residual target nuclei are significantly smaller than in oxygen and sulfur interactions in emulsion.

     

Fragmentation of ^16O nuclei in nuclear emulsion

We present the topology of 16O fragmentation at 60A GeV in reactions with emulsion nuclei.We discuss the multiplicity distributions of projectile fragments.charged secondaries and their dependence on the target residues.     

Multifractal critical thermodynamics in nucleus-nucleus collisions

Critical points approach in the frames of multifractal thermodynamics is suggested to interpret the experimental data on nuclear multifragmentation which come from interactions in nuclear emulsion (in which ¹⁹⁷ ₇₉Au₁₁₈ nuclei of energy ∼1 GeV/nucleon break up into fragments) and from the charge distributions of projectile fragments in sulphur (³²S) fragmentation at 200 GeV/nucleon. It is also shown that multifragmentation after macro-solids collisions exhibits properties analogous to those observed in the nuclear multifragmentation experiments. Received: 19 October 1999     

Characteristics of He-nucleus interactions at relativistic energy

From the peripheral collisions of²⁸Si projectile at 14.5 A GeV in nuclear emulsion, emerged⁴He nuclei among the projectile fragments, are followed for their interactions. Multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of the produced particles emanating from 366 inelastic⁴He induced emulsion reactions are compared with those of²⁸Si at 14.5A GeV,⁴He at 140A GeV and proton at 800 GeV beams. Standard deviation of the Gaussian fittings to the pseudorapidity distributions for different values of average shower particle multiplicities represents an approximate measure of the impact parameter. Second moments of the multiplicity distributions of the shower tracks can be parameterized in terms of a universal polynomial dependence. Results agree quite well with the predictions of the multistring model VENUS.     

Fast helium production in interactions of 3.7 A GeV <Superscript>24</Superscript>Mg with emulsion nuclei

We have studied the properties of the relativistic helium fragments emitted from the projectile in the interactions of ²⁴Mg ions accelerated at an energy of 3.7 A GeV with emulsion nuclei. The total, partial nuclear cross-sections and production rates of helium fragmentation channels in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions and their dependence on the mass and energy of the incident projectile nucleus are investigated. The yields of multiple helium projectile fragments disrupted from the interactions of ²⁴Mg projectile nuclei with hydrogen H, light CNO and heavy AgBr groups of target emulsion nuclei are discussed and they indicate that the breakup mechanism of the projectile seems to be independent of the target mass. Limiting fragmentation behavior of fast-moving helium fragments is observed in both the projectile and target nuclei. The multiplicity distributions of helium projectile fragments emitted in the interactions of ²⁴Mg projectile nuclei with the different target nuclei of the emulsion are well described by the KNO scaling presentation. The mean multiplicities of the different charged secondary particles, normally defined shower, grey and black ( n_s, n_g and n_b) emitted in the interactions of 3.7 A GeV ²⁴Mg with the different groups of emulsion nuclei at different ranges of projectile fragments are decreasing when the number of He fragments stripped from projectile increases. These values of n_i ( i = s, g, b and h particles) in the events where the emission of fast helium fragments were accompanied by heavy fragments having Z 3 seem to be constant as the He multiplicity increases, and exhibit a behavior independent of the He multiplicity.     

Structures and angular distributions of slow and relativistic charged particles produced in 7Li-emulsion interactions at 3 GeV/c per projectile nucleon

Experimental results on the multiplicity distributions of various particles produced in the interactions of ⁷Li with emulsion nuclei at a momentum of 3 GeV/c per projectile nucleon are reported. A comparison with data on collisions induced by other nuclei at a nearly identical momentum per nucleon is presented in order to reveal the dependence on the projectile mass. The internal structure of ⁷Li is explored by studying the projectile fragment. The mean multiplicity of shower particles, 〈n _s〉, induced by ⁷Li is found to be less than that in the case of ⁶Li projectiles. The angular distributions of target fragments and relativistic charged secondaries are investigated. No shock-wave phenomena are observed. Forward-to-backward ratios are calculated for each case. The probability distributions for relativistic secondaries produced per unit rapidity are studied in detail, along with the rapidity densities and their dependence on the projectile and the target mass. A comparison of the angular spectra of shower particles produced in central and peripheral collisions supports the limiting-fragmentation hypothesis. The collisions in question seem to become more central with increasing shower-particle multiplicity.     

Fragmentation in ^16 O-emulsion interactions at 3.7 A GeV

The topology of ¹⁶O fragmentation at 3.7 A GeV in reactions with emulsion nuclei is presented. The multiplicity distributions of projectile fragments,charged secondaries and their dependences on the projectile residues are discussed.     

An experimental study of angular distribution of fast secondaries in 50 GeV/cπ −-Em collisions

The pseudo-rapidity distribution has been studied for 50 GeV/cπ ⁻-colliding with various groups of target nuclei in emulsion. These data are compared with the published data onp-A collisions. It is observed that leading component multiplicity inπ ⁻-Em collisions decreases withN _h in highη-region. It is also observed that nearly 20% of the interactions proceed via single cluster formation at this projectile energy.     

Production of delta isobars on tantalum nuclei in CTa collisions at a projectile momentum of 4.2 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon

A procedure that relies on analyzing the angle between the momenta of the proton and the pion originating from CTa interaction at a projectile momentum of 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon was used to investigate for the first time the production of Δ⁰ and Δ⁺⁺ resonances in such interactions and to determine their parameters. The criterion of stability in the parameter a characterizing the background contribution was presented for the first time and was used to reconstruct the mass distributions of Δ⁰ and Δ⁺⁺ resonances. The contributions of Δ⁰- and Δ⁺⁺-resonance decays to the production of charged pions were estimated. The results of this study are compared with similar data obtained by using the analogous procedure for Δ⁰ and Δ⁺⁺ resonances produced on carbon nuclei in CC and ⁴HeC collisions at a projectile momentum of 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon and in π ⁻¹²C interactions at a projectile momentum of 40 GeV/c.     

Systematic study of multiparticle production in nucleus–nucleus interactions at 14.6 A GeV

An experimental analysis of 855 events induced by 14.6 A GeV ²⁸Si in nuclear emulsion is presented. Mean multiplicities of charged secondary particles produced in the nuclear interactions are studied and compared with the results from the other experiments for the same projectile at 3.7 A GeV as well as data for proton at similar energy (14 GeV). An analysis of pseudorapidity densities of target fragments (black and grey particles) is also performed. The behaviour of the KNO scaling law of the multiplicity distribution for shower particles has been examined. In order to accumulate knowledge about the intermittent behaviour of shower particles, the scaled factorial moments (SFMs) are computed in η-space and ?-space for a set of data in the ²⁸Si–AgBr events. Furthermore, validity of limiting fragmentation of shower particles produced in central collision events induced by ²⁸Si-emulsion interactions has been tested. A crude estimation for the energy density of the nuclear matter formed in the central collision events at our energy has been examined.     

Multiplicity of secondary particles and fragmentation in nuclear interactions of22Ne and32S nuclei with emulsion at (4.1–4.5)A GeV/c

The interactions of 4.1AGeV/c ²²Ne and 4.5AGeV/c ³²S nuclei with emulsion have been studied and the dependence of the average multiplicities of the emitted secondary charged particles and the interacting projectile nucleons on the impact parameters have been investigated. The behavior of the Koba-Neilsen-Olesen (KNO) scaling formula of the multiplicity distributions produced due to the interactions of²²Ne and³²S at the energies mentioned above is satisfied by all target protons. The multiplicity distributions of the emitted⁴He fragments and the fragmentation cross-section relative to the inelastic cross-section have been investigated and give a⁴He-fragments yield which is always ten times greater than the yield of any other fragments. The dependence of the normalized mean multiplicity and the reduced multiplicity on the mass of the projectile and target nucleus can be described by a power law.     

Production cross sections of multiply charged fragments in heavy ion interactions at 150–200 MeV/nucleon

A total of 1720 ¹⁶O-emulsion nucleus interactions at 150–200 MeV/nucleon have been investigated. Production cross sections of multiply charged projectile fragments are given. It is found that the cross section for the production of N, C, B and Be projectile fragments in ¹⁶O-nucleus interactions is similar at 0.2 and 2 GeV/nucleon. The fragmentation cross sections for Li and He are larger at 0.2 than at 2 GeV/nucleon.     

Fast helium nuclei in interactions induced by very heavy nuclei

Fast helium nuclei emitted in interactions between heavy cosmic ray nuclei (12≦Z≦26) and photoemulsion nuclei at energies >1 GeV/nucleon have been studied. Comparisons with interactions where the incident particles are protons, pions or light nuclei reveal some characteristic features of nucleus-nucleus interactions. The frequency of fast target helium nuclei is much larger and the high energy tail of the energy spectrum of these helium nuclei is more pronounced in nucleus-nucleus interactions than in proton-nucleus and pion-nucleus interactions. The number of helium nuclei emitted depends on the size and disintegration of the interacting nuclei. In order to explain our experimental data several possible production mechanisms have to be considered. Some characteristics of the emission of multiply-charged projectile fragments have-also been studied.     

Production of Helium Projectile Fragments in 16O-Emulsion Collisions at 60 A GeV

Production of helium projectile fragments in ¹⁶O-emulsion interactions at 60 A GeV is investigated. The total charge changing and partial production cross-sections are measured experimentally on the basis of helium multiplicity. The multiplicity distribution of helium projectile fragments obeys a KNO scaling. In the peripheral collision of ¹⁶O at 60 A GeV in nuclear emulsion, the production of target fragments depends on the multiplicity of helium projectile fragments linearly. The averge multiplicity of target fragments decreases with the increasing of the number of helium projectile fragments which can be well expliained by the model of participant-spectator (the nuclear geometric model) of nucleus-nucleus interactions.