Comparative study for nucleus-nucleus interactions and modified cascade evaporation model at (4.1 – 4.5) AGeV/c

The characteristics of the nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energy for the interactions of ¹H, ⁴He, ¹²C, ¹⁶O, ²²Ne, ²⁸Si and ³²S with emulsion at momentum (4.1 – 4.5) AGeV/c have been investigated. It has been found that the multiplicity distributions of the different emitted particles and their average values can be described by the modified cascade evaporation model. The model reproduces satisfactorily the multiplicity distributions of the shower, grey and black particles and the correlations between their multiplicities. It has been seen that the number of the produced shower particles increases with the increase of the projectile mass number. From the correlation between the average multiplicity of the evaporation particles and the number of the produced particles, it was found that a phase transition in the target system may occur. The calculated pseudo-rapidity distributions of the produced shower particles are typically Gaussian shaped in the mid-rapidity region and agree well with the experimental data. Also, the angular distributions of the grey and black particles have been investigated. The angular distributions of the grey particles show a universal shape independent of the type of projectile. The angular distributions of the black particles are nearly isotropic with a small asymmetry in the forward direction. The modified cascade evaporation model, reproduces the general characteristics of the nucleus-nucleus interactions and gives an explanation for the multiparticle production process.     

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.     

Nuclear interactions of 21 GeV/c protons and 50 GeV/c negative pions in emulsions exposed in a strong magnetic field

Incoherent nuclear interactions of 21 GeV/c protons and 50 GeV/cπ ^?-mesons in emulsions exposed in a strong (180 kG) magnetic field have been investigated. The following topics are covered: the multiplicity of various types of charges secondaries, general features of one-particle rapidity and transverse momentum distributions, energy partitions among secondaries, characteristics of the leading particles and relativistic recoil protons, correlation relations. The experimental data are compared with predictions of current models of nuclear production.     

Coherent dissociation of relativistic 12N nuclei

The dissociation of relativistic ¹²N nuclei having a momentum of 2 GeV/c per nucleon and undergoing the most peripheral interactions in a track emulsion is studied. The picture of charged topology of product ensembles of relativistic fragments and special features of their angular distributions are presented.     

Projectile stopping in nucleus-nucleus and hadron-nucleus collisions at 4.2 and 10 GeV/c per nucleon

The collisions ofp,²H,⁴He and C with carbon and tantalum nuclei at 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon as well as the collisionsp-C andp-Ta at 10 GeV/c from 2-m propane bubble chamber have been studied. New results on nuclear stopping have been obtained from the examination of proton rapidity distributions and average rapidity of leading protons for collisions of various degree of centrality: our study points out that a proton projectile is fully stopped in the centralp-Ta collisions at 4.2 GeV/c but only partly stopped at 10 Gev/c. The proton multiplicity in the centralp-Ta collisions at 10 GeV/c can be described by the binomial distribution,P(n), which expresses the probability that the projectile meetsn protons among the nucleons being along the diameter of a target nucleus.     

Target fragmentation in proton-nucleus and16O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon

Target remnants withZ<3 from proton-nucleus and¹⁶O-nucleus reactions at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon were measured in the angular range from 30° to 160° (?1.7<η<1.3) employing the Plastic Ball detector. The excitation energy of the target spectator matter in central oxygen-induced collisions is found to be high enough to allow for complete disintegration of the target nucleus into fragments withZ<3. The average longitudinal momentum transfer per proton to the target in central collisions is considerably higher in the case of¹⁶O-induced reactions (≈300 MeV/c) than in proton-induced reactions (≈130 MeV/c). The baryon rapidity distributions are roughly in agreement with one-fluid hydrodynamical calculations at 60 GeV/nucleon¹⁶O+Au but are in disagreement at 200 GeV/nucleon, indicating the higher degree of transparency at the higher bombarding energy. Both, the transverse momenta of target spectators and the entropy produced in the target fragmentation region are compared to those attained in head-on collisions of two heavy nuclei at Bevalac energies. They are found to be comparable or do even exceed the values for the participant matter at beam energies of about 1–2 GeV/nucleon.     

Production of mirror nuclei <Superscript>7</Superscript>Li and <Superscript>7</Superscript>Be in <Superscript>16</Superscript>O<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> interactions at a momentum of 3.25 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon

Results of a comparative analysis of processes leading to the production of mirror nuclei ⁷Li and ⁷Be in ¹⁶Op collisions at a momentum of 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon are presented. A comparison of associated multiplicities of accompanying particles is performed. The first results on the mean multiplicity of neutrons appearing as fragments are described.     

Azimuthal correlations of secondary particles in collisions between gold nuclei and track-emulsion nuclei at a gold-nucleus energy of 10.6 GeV per nucleon

Charged secondaries from collisions of gold nuclei with track-emulsion nuclei showed azimuthal correlations consisting in (i) the asymmetric emission of projectile and target fragments in opposite directions and (ii) an azimuthal quasicollinearity of shower particles in individual events. The measurement errors were investigated and taken into account. The experimental data in question can be interpreted within the model of Gaussian distributions of transverse momentum components.     

Hadron production ine +e− annihilation and μ-p collisions under the assumption of longitudinal phase space dominance

Rapidity and multiplicity distributions are calculated for the hadrons produced ine ⁺e^? annihilation and deep inelastic muon-proton collisions for c.m. energies of 10 to 40 GeV. The hypothesis of longitudinal phase space dominance leads to a probability distribution which is identical to that of a grand canonical ensemble of non-interacting particles. We successfully describe experimental rapidity distributions, domains of Feynman-x scaling and scaling violations and the rapidity dependence of the mean transverse momentum. Multiplicity distributions are derived to be close to negative binomial distributions even for finite rapidity intervals. The plateau in the rapidity distribution is the origin for the negative binomial distribution in multiplicity. The mean number of hadrons of each species and the mean overall transverse momentum are the main input parameters in our calculation and are taken from experiment.     

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.     

Momentum distributions of <Superscript>4</Superscript>He nuclei from the <Superscript>6</Superscript>He and <Superscript>6</Superscript>Li breakup

Experimental data on the momentum distributions of ⁴He nuclei originating from ⁶He and ⁶Li breakup on various targets are presented over a wide beam energy range. The experiment with ⁶He was performed at the DRIBs accelerator complex for radioactive beams at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna). The intensity of the ⁶He beam used was 5 × 10⁶ particles per second and its energy was 10 MeV per nucleon. The momentum distributions of breakup products were measured by means of the MSP-144 magnetic spectrometer. The distribution width was shown to be virtually independent of the target mass. A small value of this width, σ ～ 28 MeV/c, confirms the presence of a halo in ⁶He. The measurements performed with ⁶Li beams of energy 18 and 46 MeV per nucleon at the U-400M accelerator yielded a width value of σ ～ 50 MeV/c for the momentum distributions of ⁴He nuclei, which is intermediate between that for ⁶He and those for stable nuclei. A compilation of the widths of the momentum distributions of fragments originating from the breakup of various nuclei is presented versus the binding energy of one or two neutrons in these nuclei, the target mass and the projectile energy.     

Some general characteristics of Si-emulsion interactions at 4.5 GeV/c per nucleon

We present our observations on the salient features of the interactions produced by ²⁸Si nuclei of 4.5 GeV/c per nucleon in photographic emulsions. The results on the inelastic mean-free path and interaction cross section are presented and compared with the predictions of a geometrical model. Measurements on the multiplicity distribution, mean multiplicities, multiplicity correlations and multiplicity scaling of charged secondary particles are studied. A comparison with other available data at same/nearby incident momentum per nucleon from proton-nucleus and carbon-nucleus collisions is presented in order to examine the dependence on the projectile mass.     

Fragmentation of12C nuclei in emulsion at 50 GeV/c

A total of 852¹²C-emulsion nucleus interactions at 4.2 GeV/c per incident nucleon was investigated. At least one charged projectile fragment was observed in 733 events, in which the multiplicity and angular distributions ofZ=1,2, and ≧3 projectile fragments were studied. Five events were observed in which¹²C projectile nuclei were fragmented into twoZ=3 fragments. Thus the cross section of this process is about 6×10^?3 of the inelastic cross section. The angular distribution of projectile fragments becomes narrower as the fragment charge increases. At all values of fragment charges, a pronounced peak in the angular distribution can be observed at zero emission angle. In this paper, only the projectile-fragmentation events possessing no heavily ionizing particle (n _h =0 events) have been investigated. Our sample contains 84 of these events, i.e., about 10% of the total inelastic events. The number of events withZ _max, the charge of the emitted principal fragment, equal to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are 11, 52, 13, 4, and 4, respectively. Of these 84 events, 36 interactions have a total charge of emitted projectile fragmentsZ ^* equal to 6, i.e., as much as the beam chargeZ _p . Of the 36 events, 17 produce no charged pions and of the 17 events, 10 only represent the dissociation of¹²C→3α, i.e., 1.2% of the total inelastic interactions. The number of events withZ ^*=5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 are 27, 14, 4, 2, and 1, respectively. The average number of produced charged pions per one interacting projectile nucleon was estimated to be 1.2±0.1. This value agrees with the corresponding one in elementary interaction at the same energy per nucleon, a result pertaining to the incoherent production model in collision of two nuclei. In this class of events,n _h =0, the number of stars in which H, He, Li, Be, and B isotopes were detected are 59, 58, 13, 4, and 4, respectively. The projected angular distributions ofZ=1 and 2 projectile fragments are Gaussian shaped, narrow, consistent with isotropy, and depend on the fragment. These distributions are consistent with quantum mechanical calculations using the sudden approximation and shell-model functions. From the angular measurements ofα-particle tracks in the dissociation¹²C→3α events, the distribution ofα-particle transverse momentum inside the carbon projectile nucleus was deduced. It seems that the dissociation of¹²C→3α happens via an intermediate⁸Be state.     

Central collisions of24Mg nuclei with heavy emulsion group of nuclei (Br,Ag) at 4.5 AGeV/c momentum

Central collisions of²⁴Mg nuclei with the heavy (AgBr) group of emulsion nuclei are selected and analysed according to several selecting criteria. Theoretical calculations concerning cross sections for central events, average number of interacting protons from both projectile and target nuclei, multiplicity distributions of shower particles and dispersions, all based on the Glauber model, are performed to evaluate various criteria to select central events. The selection criterion based on the high multiplicity of total charged particles provides satisfactory agreement with the theoretical calculations.     

Charged particle production in proton-, deuteron-, oxygen- and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon

The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton–nucleus and deuteron–gold interactions, as well as central oxygen–gold and sulphur–nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus–nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with ‘temperatures’ between MeV (p+S interactions) and MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions. Received: 28 October 1997 / Published online: 10 March 1998     

Structure of final states with a high transverse momentum π0 in proton-proton collisions

We present a study of the final state structure in proton-proton collisions (√s = 53 GeV) where a large transverse momentum π⁰ (p_t > 2 GeV/c) is produced at an angle of 90°. Charged secondaries have been detected and momentum analysed in the split field magnet detector at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings. The large angular coverage of this detector extends over ±2.5 units of rapidity and ±30° of azimuth with respect to the trigger π⁰, both towards and away from it. In each of these directions, where we observe similar strong correlations, we present charged particle distributions, in rapidity and momentum. In the hemisphere containing the trigger π⁰ we have measured the cross section for inclusive production of large transverse momentum ?^± mesons. In the opposite hemisphere the data exhibit several features predicted by hard scattering quark-parton models: coplanarity and short-range rapidity correlation for the large transverse momentum secondaries as well as a transverse momentum sharing distribution similar to that observed in deep inelastic electro-production and in e⁺e^? collisions.     

Direct α particle emission in incomplete fusion reaction on a spherical target124Sn

Direct α particles cross sections and angular distributions have been measured when bombarding a¹²⁴Sn target with various projectiles:¹⁶O (90, 105, 125 MeV)¹⁹F (104 MeV)²⁰Ne (112, 156 MeV). Results have been found independant of the projectile structure. In the same reactions, gamma multiplicity measurements have shown that direct α particles are emitted in collisions with intermediate impact parameters. The angular momentum is found to be about half of the valuel _cr for complete fusion.     

Non-equilibrium processes in heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies

We use transport theory to describe the inclusive cross sections for protons and pions produced in collisions between two identical heavy ions at an energy of 800 MeV per particle. In addition to the nucleonic we take the Δ-degree of freedom into account. Thus we consider a two-component system whose distributions in transverse momentum and rapidity we describe by two coupled Fokker-Planck equations. These transport equations contain the one-nucleon knock-out process as initial condition. In the limit of large interaction times they lead to thermal equilibrium (fireball) distributions. For light nuclei the interaction time is not large enough for equilibrium to be reached. A recent experiment for two colliding carbon nuclei at 800 MeV per nucleon shows evidence of nonequilibrium effects. We compare our calculations with experimental data for ¹²C on ¹²C and Ne on NaF at 800 MeV/N.     

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.     

Multiplicity distributions of shower particles and target fragments in 7Li–Em collisions at 3 A GeV/c

Multiplicity distributions of shower particles and target fragments in ⁷Li–Em (emulsion) collisions at 3 A GeV/c are experimentally studied. In the framework of the multisource thermal model, the multicomponent Erlang distribution is used to describe the experimental multiplicity distributions of shower particles, grey fragments, black fragments, and heavily ionized fragments. The correlations between these multiplicities are experimentally reported. With the increase of impacting centrality (or the target fragment multiplicity), a saturation phenomenon for shower particle multiplicity is observed in the experiment.