Intermediate mass fragment emission in the 161-MeV p+Ag reaction

Spectra, angular distributions, and cross sections have been measured for {ital Z}=3--12 fragments produced in the reaction of 161-MeV protons with a silver target. Nonequilibrium mechanisms dominate the fragment yields at forward angles and for low-{ital Z} ejectiles. Equilibrated emission is primarily responsible for fragments observed at backward angles, an effect which grows in importance with increasing fragment {ital Z} value. A power-law fit to the elemental cross section distributions yields an exponent {tau}=4.7, significantly larger than observed for higher-energy protons. These data are compared with the predictions of statistical decay, accreting source, and preequilibrium calculations.