NUCLEAR FRAGMENT EMISSION IN HIGH-ENERGY P-XE AND P-KR COLLISIONS AND A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR PRODUCTION MECHANISM

We have studied the energy distributions of Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne, Na, Mg, Al, and Si emerging from high-energy proton-xenon and proton-krypton collisions in the 20<pinc<400 GeV/c momentum range. Based on the fragment mass dependence of the slope characterizing these energy distributions, there is a natural division of the fragments into two groups. The production of fragments heavier than carbon can be understood in terms of a two-body disintegration of a residual nucleus possessing a single slope parameter. © 1979 The American Physical Society.