Comparative analysis of properties of channels of deuteron and tritium production in 16Op collisions at a projectile momentum of 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon

Abstract

The results of a comparative analysis of channels involving the inclusive production of deuterons and tritons in 16Op collisions at a projectile momentum of 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon are presented. The mechanisms governing proton, deuteron, and triton production in the fragmentation of oxygen nuclei are found to be independent. It is shown that the observed proton-multiplicity correlations are associated predominantly with the character of the primary event of a proton-nucleon collision in 16Op interactions. It is found that, in reactions involving triton production, the contributions of processes leading to an increase in the mean proton multiplicity (n → p + π− and np → pn) and processes leading to its decrease (p → n + π+) compensate each other.