Fragmentation cross sections of16O at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon

Abstract

We used CR39 plastic nuclear track detectors (C12H18O7) in combination with automatic track measurement to determine total charge changing and partial cross sections for the production of fragments of chargeZ=6 andZ=7 in collisions of16O beam nuclei at energies of 60 GeV/nucleon and 200 GeV/nucleon in targets H, C, CR39, CH2, Al, Cu, Ag and Pb. Total charge changing cross sections due to the process of electromagnetic dissociation are calculated based on a theoretical model and found to be consistent with total and partial electromagnetic dissociation cross sections derived from this experiment. The energy dependence of pure nuclear fragmentation is investigated.