Diffraction Dissociation of High-Energy Protons inp−dInteractions

Abstract

We report results from a measurement of the inclusive process $p+d\to X+d$ in the region $0.03<\mathrm{}\left|t\right|<0.12\mathrm{}$ ${(\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}/\mathit{c})}^2$ and $5 \mathrm{Ge}{\mathrm{V}}^2<{M_X}^2\lesssim 0.11p_{\mathrm{lab}}$ for incident proton momenta from 150 to 400 GeV/c. We find that in this region, the differential cross section $\frac{d^2\sigma }{\mathrm{dt}d{M_X}^2}$ varies only slowly with energy, falls exponentially with $\mathrm{}\left|t\right|\mathrm{}$, and behaves to a good approximation as $\frac{1}{{M_X}^2}$. The measurement was performed at Fermilab by detecting slow-recoil deuterons from a deuterium-gas-jet target placed at the internal beam of the accelerator.