Neutron and Meson Stars Induced in the Light Elements of the Emulsion

Abstract

Laminated emulsions have been exposed to the neutron and positive meson beam at the Nevis cyclotron. In the case of the neutron exposure (300 Mev) it has been found that 21\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}3 percent of the emulsion stars originate in light nuclei. The number of fast protons and their angular distribution is similar in stars from light and heavy elements. The black tracks in light element stars show a marked forward excess.The energy range of the mesons incident on the laminated emulsions was from 50-80 Mev. 24-30 percent of the emulsion stars originate in light nuclei. In about 15-20 percent of these cases, the scattered meson emerges from the nucleus. Charge exchange scattering, if present at all, amounts to less than 10 percent of all interactions. More than 70 percent of the interactions (stars) result in absorption of the incident meson. The absorption occurs chiefly in nucleon pairs.