Formation of clusters on relativistic charged-particle multiplicity

Abstract

Cluster size and its dependence on the multiplicity of relativistic charged particles for pion–nucleus interactions at 340 GeV/c in nuclear emulsions are presented and compared with pion–nucleon interactions at the same energy. The maximum number of charged particles constituting a cluster has been observed to be four for events having higher multiplicity, i.e., Ns > 9, while this number turns out to be three for disintegrations with Ns ≤ 9. Finally, it may be concluded that the mechanisms of hadron–nucleus and hadron–nucleon interactions are almost identical.