Inclusive particle production at forward angles from collisions of light relativistic nuclei: Nuclear fragments

We have measured the production of charged nuclear fragments in collisions of 1.05 GeV/nucleon and 2.1 GeV/nucleon proton, deuteron, alpha, and carbon projectiles as well as 0.4 GeV/nucleon alpha particles on targets of C, Cu, Pb, and H (from a C${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$---C subtraction), using a double focusing spectrometer. We present single particle inclusive cross sections for the production of $Z=1$ and $Z=2$ fragments in the region $0.5\ensuremath{\le}{(\frac{p}{Z})}_{\mathrm{lab}}\ensuremath{\le}8.7$ GV/c and $0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}\ensuremath{\le}{\ensuremath{\vartheta}}_{\mathrm{lab}}\ensuremath{\le}12\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$. We discuss the relevance of the concept of limiting fragmentation to our data and point out possible uses of the data to study nuclear structure and particle production mechanisms. A detailed comparison is made with Glauber-type models and hard-scattering models as well as the coalescence model.NUCLEAR REACTIONS $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+H, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+C, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+Cu, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+Pb, $\frac{E}{A}=400$ MeV/nucleon; p+H, p+C, p+Cu, p+Pb, d+H, d+C, d+Cu, d+Pb, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+H, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+C, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+Cu, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+Pb, C+H, C+C, C+Cu, C+Pb, $\frac{E}{A}=1050$ MeV/nucleon; p+H, p+C, p+Cu, p+Pb, d+H, d+C, d+Cu, d+Pb, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+H, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+C, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+Cu, $\ensuremath{\alpha}$+Pb, C+H, C+C, C+Cu, C+Pb, $\frac{E}{A}=2100$ MeV/nucleon; measured $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathrm{p}, \ensuremath{\vartheta})$ for p, d, $^{3}\mathrm{H}$, $^{3}\mathrm{He}$, $^{4}\mathrm{He}$, $^{6}\mathrm{He}$, and $^{8}\mathrm{He}$.