Rapidity-gap and rapidity-correlation study in 400-GeV/<i>c</i>proton-nucleus interactions

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed study of the rapidity gaps and the rapidity correlations among the relativistic particles produced in proton-nucleus interaction in emulsion at 400 GeV/c. The study includes (a) cumulative rapidity-gap distribution and hence the cluster characteristics, (b) distribution of shower width (rapidity), (c) distribution of maximum rapidity gap, and (d) two-particle rapidity correlation. The experimental data have been compared with a Monte Carlo simulation assuming an independent-emission model. The target-nucleus dependence of correlation has also been studied.