Angular distribution of slow and relativistic charged particles produced in silicon- and carbon-emulsion interactions at 4.5A GeV/c

Summary

The paper presents the data on²⁸Si- and¹²C-emulsion interactions at 4.5A GeV/c. Angular distributions of target fragments and relativistic charged secondaries have been investigated. No shock wave phenomenon is observed. Forward/backward ratios in each case are calculated. A detailed study of probability distributions of relativistic charged secondaries produced per unit rapidity as well as rapidity densities and their dependence on projectile and target mass has been carried out. A comparative study of angular spectra of shower particles produced in central and peripheral collisions gives an evidence in support of limiting fragmentation hypothesis. It is found that a large number of particles are produced in the central region in comparison with the target fragmentation region, whereas no indication of particle production is found in the projectile fragmentation region. Moreover, the centrality of the interactions seems to increase with the increasing shower particle multiplicity.