DEPENDENCE OF THE SPECTRA AND CROSS-SECTIONS FOR PRODUCTION OF PROTONS WITH T-LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-0.4 GEV ON THE ATOMIC WEIGHTS OF THE COLLIDING NUCLEI IN NUCLEUS-NUCLEUS INTERACTIONS AT 4.2 GEV C PER NUCLEON AT FIXED ANGLES/

Invariant proton-production cross sections are reported as a function of the kinetic energy over the interval 50-400 MeV at fixed angles fro m 0 to 180-degrees for (p, d, alpha, C) + C and (d, alpha, C) + Ta int eractions at 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon. In interactions of the light nucle i with carbon nuclei, the shape of the proton spectrum is independent of the nature of the projectile nucleus at emission angles theta > 30- degrees in the studied energy interval. In collisions of (d, alpha, C) with tantalum nuclei the spectra of protons with theta > 20-degrees a re similar in the two regions 50-200 and 200-400 MeV, while the slope parameters are different. The atomic weight of the target nucleus has an important effect on the shape of the proton spectra at 50 less-than -or-equal-to T < 200 MeV and theta < 90-degrees, while the shape of th e spectra of faster protons (200 less-than-or-equal-to T less-than-or- equal-to 400 MeV) becomes independent of A(T) above theta = 20-degrees . The proton-production cross sections have been studied as a function of the atomic weights of the colliding nuclei at fixed angles. In eac h angular interval, the A(p) dependence of dsigma/dOMEGA can be descri bed by a power law (A(p)alpha(p)) for interactions with both light and heavy targets. The angular distributions of the parameters alpha(p)C and alpha(p)Ta have been found. With a power-law dependence of dsigma/ dOMEGA on the atomic number of the target nucleus (A(T)alpha(T)), valu es alpha(T)d,alpha,C almost-equal-to 1 are found at theta < 50-degrees . They increase to approximately 1.5 in the interval 120-degrees less- than-or-equal-to theta less-than-or-equal-to 180-degrees.