Transverse Momentum and Rapidity Distributions of Charged Secondaries Emitted in Proton Nucleon Inelastic Interactions at 69 Gev/c

This paper deals mainly with the study of the transverse momentum and the rapidity distributions of the charged secondaries emitted in the proton-nucleon inelastic scattering at 69.0 Gev/c. Our sample consists of 300 proton-nucleon inelastic events, found amongst 1887 stars attributed to inelastic interactions of 69 Gev/c protons with emulsion nucleons and nuclei, in 768 meters of proton tracks. Our plates were obtained from the JINR Dubna, USSR. Accurate coulomb scattering mesuremments were performed on about 300 emitted charged secondaries to determine their momenta. The average value of the transverse momentum 〈P_t〉 of the charged secondaries emitted in p-nucleon, p-p, and p-n interactions at 69 Gev/c are 0.329 ± .020, 0.317 ± .029 and 0.332 ± .027 Gev/c respectively. The 〈P_t〉 value is almost constant for primary energies from above 6.0 Gev up to cosmic ray energies. It slightly decreases as the charged multiplicity increases as expected according to the statistical models. It is found that the linear and the Hagedorn distribution (LD and HD), both fit the experimental transverse momentum distributions better than the Boltzmann distribution (BD) in the energy range from above 6.0 Gev up to cosmic ray range. In all the cases of p-nucleon, p-p and p-n interactions at our energy, it has been found that the HD gives 〈P_t〉 values nearer to the experimental results than the LD. The different order moments of the experimentally obtained transverse momentum distribution strongly confirms the applicability of the generalized HD at our energy and in the range of interaction from above 6.0 Gev up to cosmic ray ranges. The temperature of the interaction volume was determined to be 140 Mev in agreement with the Hagedorn model which predicts it to be of the order of one pion mass. The variation of 〈P_t〉 with the angle of emission in the C.M. system and the momentum distribution in the C.M. system were studied in view of the isobar model. A study of the rapidity (Y) distribution confirmed an energy independent behaviour especially for slow emitted pions both in the projectile and the target fragmentation regions in accordance with the limiting fragmentation hypothesis.