Study of nuclear fragment emission in proton heavy nucleus collision from 10 to 500 GeV/c

We propose to measure the double differential cross section of nuclear fragments (2 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 16), for a given incident momentum, produced by proton heavy nucleus (20 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 80) collisions in the 10 to 500 GeV/c momentum range. Recent experimental results and theoretical speculations suggest collective nuclear motion is initiated by the passage of a fast proton through a heavy nucleus. The novel feature of this experiment is the determination of the energy dependence of the excitation mechanism. Because nuclear fragments are best studied from thin targets, one needs a very high beam flux to obtain sufficient event rates. These considerations make the Internal Target Area with a heavy gas jet target the ideal place to initiate our experimental program. The detection system will consist of four conventional $delta$E- E semiconductor telescopes. (auth