Mass Number Dependence of the Forward Production of Charged Hadrons and Nuclear Fragments in Carbon–Lead and Carbon–Carbon Interaction at a Beam Energy of 19.6 GeV per Nucleon

The inclusive differential cross sections for the production of and mesons, protons, and antiprotons with momenta between 6 and 50 GeV/ c and nuclear fragments of mass number in the momentum range between 20 and 220 GeV/ c were measured in carbon–lead collisions at a beam kinetic energy of 19.6 GeV per nucleon ( GeV). A comparison with the respective cross sections for carbon–carbon interactions is performed, and the dependence on the target mass number ( ) is estimated. The present analysis shows that the observed particles originate predominantly from peripheral interactions.