NUCLEAR TEMPERATURE AND MULTIPLICITIES OF RELATIVISTIC HE FRAGMENTS FROM O-16-EMULSION INTERACTIONS AT 200 A GEV

This work mainly deals with the study of the He-fragmentation of O-16 nuclei as a result of their interactions with nuclear emulsion at 200 A GeV. The data being analyzed consist of 1088 inelastic O-16-Em colli sions. The mean free path lambda (m.f.p.) of O-16 ions was calculated and found to be 12.81 +/- 0.39 cm. A comparison of the percentage rati os for producing He-projectile fragments (p. f.'s) in O-16-Em collisio ns at the present energies with the corresponding values at different energies enables to test the limiting fragmentation hypothesis. The mu ltiplicity distribution of the He-p.f.'s exhibits a KNO scaling. The p rojected angular distribution of these fragments is typically Gaussian -shaped. The nuclear temperature of the emitting system is inferred fr om the projected angular distribution of the Z = 2 p.f.'s and is appro ximately equal to the projectile nuclear binding energy, indicating a small energy transfer between target and fragment.