FRAGMENT MASS DEPENDENCE OF P(T) AT GEV PER NUCLEON ENERGIES

Measurements of the transverse momenta (p(T)) of medium and heavy mass projectile fragments for a range of projectile nuclei (Ar-40, Nb-93, La-139, Au-197) have been carried out. It is found that the width of t he traverse momentum distributions increases more rapidly with project ile and fragment mass than predicted by models based on nucleon moment a in the projectile nuclei. The distributions can be fit by including an additional transverse momentum, p(B) (for Bounce). The extracted va lues of p(B)/A(F) increase with decreasing A(F), and extrapolations to small A(F) appear to be consistent with the mean values of reaction-p lane-projected p(T) per nucleon for light particle (e.g., nucleon) ''b ounce-off.''