Multiplicity of negatively charged particles produced in association with neutral strange particles in 40-GeV/c π-A collisions selected by a high-transverse-momentum trigger

The A dependences of the multiplicities of various types of particles originating from collisions of 40-GeV/c negative pions with H, D, C, Cu, and Pb nuclei are investigated. A selection requiring the emission of a secondary particle with pt>1.1 GeV/c is applied. All types of charged particles observed in this experiment, with the exception of fast negative secondaries, are found to display very similar A dependences of the multiplicities in collisions with and without the emission of neutral strange particles. The resulting multiplicities are compared with those for selection-free data and with the theoretical predictions