Forward production of nuclear fragments in CC collisions at beam energy 20.5 GeV/nucleon

Abstract The inclusive differential cross sections for forward production of nuclear fragments at an angle of 0 ∘ in CC collisions at beam energy 20.5 GeV/nucleon ( S N N = 6.3 GeV ) are presented. Measurements have been performed at the U-70 Accelerator Complex (Protvino) using a combined spectrometer on base of the beamline. Fragments selection was carried out by measuring of ionization in scintillation counters taking into account the data from threshold Cherenkov counters and hadron calorimeter. Fragment mass was determined through Cherenkov light emission angle measured in the spectrometer of ring imaging Cherenkov radiation. Data are given for fragments with charge 1 ≤ Z ≤ 6 , atomic number 1 ≤ A ≤ 10 and A / Z 3.4 with momenta from 20 to 210 GeV/c. The measurements are compared with Fritiof model, statistical models and theoretical parameterizations. The discovered differences between theory and experiment are discussed.