Inclusive particle production at forward angles from collisions of light relativistic nuclei: Nuclear fragments

We have measured the production of charged nuclear fragments in collisions of 1.05 GeV/nucleon and 2.1 GeV/nucleon proton, deuteron, alpha, and carbon projectiles as well as 0.4 GeV/nucleon alpha particles on targets of C, Cu, Pb, and H (from a C${\mathrm{H}}_2$—C subtraction), using a double focusing spectrometer. We present single particle inclusive cross sections for the production of $Z=1\mathrm{}$ and $Z=2\mathrm{}$ fragments in the region $0.5\le {\left(\frac{p}{Z}\right)}_{\mathrm{lab}}\le 8.7$ GV/c and $0°\le {\vartheta }_{\mathrm{lab}}\le 12°$. We discuss the relevance of the concept of limiting fragmentation to our data and point out possible uses of the data to study nuclear structure and particle production mechanisms. A detailed comparison is made with Glauber-type models and hard-scattering models as well as the coalescence model.