Nuclear dependence of neutral-D-meson production by 800 GeV/cprotons

The nuclear dependence for 800 GeV/c proton production of neutron D mesons has been measured near xF=0 in Experiment 789 at Fermilab. D mesons from beryllium and gold targets were detected with a pair spectrometer and a silicon vertex detector via their decay D{→}K{π}. No nuclear dependence is found, with a measured {α}=1.02±{}0.03±{}0.02. The measured differential cross section, d{σ}/dxF, for neutral-D-meson production at 〈xF〉=0.031 is 58±{}3±{}7 {μ}b/nucleon. The integrated cross section obtained by extrapolation of the measured cross section to all xF is 17.7±{}0.9±{}3.4 {μ}b/nucleon and is consistent with previous measurements.