Studies of Relativistic Uranium Nuclei with Dielectric Track Detectors

The cross section for the breakup of relativistic uranium projectiles (energy approximately 35 billion electron volts) into two large fragments in the track detector CR-39 was measured and found to be about half of the geometric cross section. The range of the uranium projectiles was also measured and found to agree with that predicted by the Bethe theory when modified to account for the capture of orbital electrons by the projectiles.