Search for Short-Lived Anomalons in Projectile Fragmentation

Abstract

An anomalous short mean free path for projectile fragments has been observed in emulsions. The effect disappears in the first few centimeters and it has been suggested that the disappearance is due to a lifetime effect. The projectile fragmentation yields from a solid and a dilute Cu target bombarded by 1.7-GeV/u ${}_{}{}^{56}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Fe}$ have been measured and it is concluded that the disappearance of the effect is not due to decay.