SLOW PARTICLE PRODUCTION IN THE INTERACTIONS OF 200 A GeV SULPHUR PROJECTILE WITH NUCLEAR EMULSION

Abstract

We report our experimental results on various constituents of grey particles (0.23< β < 0.7), namely pions, kaons, and baryons, emitted in Sulphur-Emulsion interactions at 200 A GeV energy. These particles have been identified with good resolution and their emission angles have also been measured. Comparison has been made with similar data from proton-Em interactions and with predictions from the Modified FRITIOF Code (MFC). We find that the pion production is higher in the case of S-Em interactions as compared to that in p-Em interactions. MFC gives pions in agreement with our experimental value but underpredicts the kaon yield. The angular distribution is related to the amount of rescattering taking place in the target spectator region. The value of rescattering parameter, κ, as deduced from our data, has been found to be significantly smaller in case of pions as compared to that of kaons and baryons. This indicates that pion production involves a greater degree of rescattering of participants, during the collision process, as compared to kaons and baryons. The values of κ for all the three grey particle constituents, as calculated from the Modified FRITIOF Code, are higher than the experimental values. This suggests that there is a need to incorporate a greater degree of rescattering in the model.