Global transverse energy distributions in relativistic nuclear collisions at 14.6AGeV/c

A systematic set of measurements of the global transverse energy distributions, dσ/${\mathit{dE}}_{\mathit{T}}$ and ${\mathit{dE}}_{\mathit{T}}$/dη, from beams of protons, ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ and ${}_{}{}^{28}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Si}$ at 14.6A GeV/c, incident on targets ranging from Be to Au is presented. The detector was a semicircular array of lead-glass blocks, covering polar angles 9°${\mathit{dE}}_{\mathit{T}}$/dη, are characterized by Gaussian fits, and an acceptance-independent form of the differential cross section is found, based on the maximum value of ${\mathit{dE}}_{\mathit{T}}$/dη. The projectile dependence of nucleus-nucleus spectra is studied in terms of two very different models: simple energy scaling and the wounded projectile nucleon model of p+A convolutions.