Production of helium projectile fragments in {16O－emulsion interactions at 4.5 A GeV/c

The measurements of partial production cross sections of the multiple helium projectile fragments emitted at 4.5 A GeV/c {}^{16}O－Em interactions are reported. We have studied the production rate of helium projectile fragments due to fragmentation of {}^{16}O ions and compared it with that obtained from different projectiles at various energies. The dependence of on the mass number of the incident beams is formulated. The multiplicity distributions of the helium fragments produced in {}^{16}O－Em interactions at different energies exhibit Koba－Nielson－Olesen (KNO) scaling. The correlation of helium projectile fragments and target fragments is also investigated and it is found that the average of target fragments is increased with the decrease of the number of helium fragments in peripheral interactions.