Leading particle distributions in 200-gev/c P + A interactions

Distributions of the leading positive particle have been measured in collisions of a 200 GeV/c proton beam with hydrogen, Mg, Ag and Au targets using the FNAL Hybrid Spectrometer. Estimates of the rapidity loss of the projectile have been obtained as a function of the target mass, the multiplicity of negative particles and the number of recoil protons. We obtained a lower limit of the rapidity loss of 2.0±0.2 for central p+Au collisions. The impact parameter dependence of the momenta of the first few leading particles has also been investigated with important implications to estimates of energy densities obtained in central collisions

Multiparticle production by 200-gev/c hadrons on gold, silver, and magnesium targets

We have used the Fermilab 30-in. bubble-chamber hybrid spectrometer to study multiparticle production in the interactions of 200-GeV/c protons and π+ and K+ mesons with nuclei of gold, silver, and magnesium. We find that the multiplicities of produced particles and negative particles increase linearly with the number of projectile collisions, with no beam or target dependence. The number of secondary collisions in the nucleus increases significantly less rapidly with the number of projectile collisions than has been reported by a streamer chamber experiment. The properties of secondary collisions suggest that they arise from rescattering of recoil nucleons rather than intranuclear cascade of produced particles. Dispersions of multiplicity distributions at fixed impact parameter are in better agreement with a model of independent sources than with Koba-Nielsen-Olesen scaling