Correlations between multiplicities of. pi. /sup 0/ mesons and nonrelativistic protons in interactions of d and /sup 12/C nuclei with tantalum at 4. 2 GeV/c per nucleon

Data from the 2-meter propane chamber at the High Energy Laboratory of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research have been used to obtain the dependence of the average number of ..pi../sup 0/ mesons on the number of nonrelativistic protons in dTa and CTa interactions at primary momentum 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon. A comparison is made with similar data for ..pi../sup -/ mesons and with the predictions of a model in which the nucleons of the projectile interact independently with the target.