SOME PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE NEW 10.6 GeV/NUCLEON GOLD BEAM AT BROOKHAVEN

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Abstract
Preliminary results are described from three separate experiments observing the interactions of gold nuclei accelerated to 10.6 GeV/nucleon at the Brookhaven AGS. Nuclear emulsion results present a global picture of the various interaction modes and reveal the production of mesons, copious multifragmentation and the angular distributions of the emitted particles. Electronic detectors make a more precise measurement of the heavy fragments emitted from interactions in a wide range of well defined targets. Etchable glass detectors provide unique charge resolution of these heavy fragments but give results that are discordant with those from the other detectors. Very significant differences are seen between these interactions and those observed at energies of ≤1.0 GeV/nucleon. Fission appears to be almost entirely suppressed while charge pickup is reduced by a factor of two to three. Total charge changing cross-sections are increased but partial cross sections for small charge changes are reduced. Frequent examples of multifragmentation are observed and central collisions result in copious particle production with total multiplicities as great as 370 singly charged particles being emitted from a single interaction. Other interactions show the emission of as many as 15 alpha particles or 7 heavier fragments. The implications of these results on the problem of the propagation of cosmic ray nuclei through the interstellar medium are considered.

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