BARYON EMISSION AT TARGET RAPIDITIES IN SI+AL,CU,AU COLLISIONS AT 14.6A GEV C AND AU+AU COLLISIONS AT 11.7A GEV/C/

We report measurements of proton emission at target rapidities for min imum bias and central collisions of 14.6A GeV/c Si-28 With Al, Cu, and Au nuclei as well as minimum bias and central collisions of 11.7A GeV /c (197)AU with Au nuclei. Results for deuteron emission are also repo rted for the Si + Au reaction. The spectra span the laboratory angular range of 50 degrees less than or equal to theta less than or equal to 130 degrees and kinetic energy range of 40 MeV less than or equal to E-kin less than or equal to 225 MeV. Inverse slopes of proton spectra and proton dN/d eta values in the kinetic energy range 50 MeV less tha n or equal to E-kin less than or equal to 110 MeV are reported. The in verse slopes are 40-80 MeV for the various systems, generally increasi ng with increasing pseudorapidity. The dN/d eta values for A + A colli sions within the restricted kinetic energy interval are compared to th ose for protons from p + Au in the literature. All pseudorapidity dist ributions have very similar shapes. The experimental results have been compared to the predictions of the nucleon-nucleon collision models A RC and RQMD. The predictions made by these two models for the distribu tion of protons at target rapidities are very similar to each other. H owever, there are significant differences between the model prediction s and the experimental results in the details of the spectral slopes a nd the proton yields for different trigger conditions.