Fragmentation cross sections of Fe^{26+}, Si^{14+} and C^{6+} ions of 0.3-10 A GeV on CR39, polyethylene and aluminum targets

TL;DR

This study measures how high-energy Fe, Si, and C ions break apart when hitting different materials, revealing energy independence in total fragmentation and target-dependent partial fragmentation.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on fragmentation cross sections for specific ions on various targets across a wide energy range.

Findings

Total fragmentation cross sections are energy independent.

Fragmentation cross sections depend on target mass.

Partial fragmentation cross sections are characterized.

Abstract

New measurements of the total and partial fragmentation cross sections in the energy range 0.3-10 A GeV of Fe^{26+}, Si^{14+} and C^{6+} beams on polyethylene, CR39 and aluminum targets are presented. The exposures were made at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), USA, and Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC), Japan. The CR39 nuclear track detectors were used to identify the incident and survived beams and their fragments. The total fragmentation cross sections for all targets are almost energy independent while they depend on the target mass. The measured partial fragmentation cross sections are also discussed.