Nuclear Fragment Mass Yields from High-Energy Proton-Nucleus Interactions

Isotopically resolved nuclear fragments (Af, Zf), 3<~Zf<~14, produced by protons in the energy range 80<~Einc<~350 GeV incident on krypton and xenon targets have been studied at the Internal Target Laboratory of the Fermi National Accelerator. A power-law dependence, isobaric yield ∝Af^-τ, was found to describe the data over a broad range of yields. The particular value of τ is a signature for the fragment formation mechanism.