Fragmentation cross sections of 158 A GeV Pb ions in various targets measured with CR39 nuclear track detectors

TL;DR

This study measures fragmentation cross sections of high-energy lead ions colliding with various targets using CR39 detectors, providing empirical parameterizations based on target mass and fragment charge.

Contribution

It presents new measurements of fragmentation cross sections at 158 A GeV and introduces empirical relations for these cross sections based on target and fragment properties.

Findings

Fragmentation cross sections vary with target atomic mass.

Charge identification achieved with CR39 detectors.

Empirical parameterizations effectively describe the data.

Abstract

We report the measurement of the fragmentation cross sections in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions using the 158 A GeV Pb beam from the CERN-SPS. The fragments have charges changed from that of the incident projectile nucleus by $\Delta Z=Z_{Pb}-Z_{frag}$, with 8 <\Delta Z <75. The targets range from polyethylene to lead. Charge identification is made with CR39 nuclear track detectors, measured with an automatic image analyzer system. The measured fragmentation cross sections are parameterized with an empirical relation in terms of the atomic mass of the target, and of the charge of the final fragment.