Further evidences for enhanced nuclear cross-sections observed in 44 GeV carbon ion interactions with copper

The work of enhanced nuclear cross-sections of secondary fragments produced in the interaction of 44 GeV 12C with copper has been deepened and extended. The earlier experiment on the emission of secondary fragments into large angles producing enhanced amounts of 24 Na in copper (Phys. Rev. C, 45, 1194(1992)) was confirmed and refined both experimentally and theoretically. In this context, one looked for another signature of such enhanced production, namely for enhanced neutron production. In order to search for this, a 20 cm thick massive copper target was irradiated with 18 and 44 GeV 12C-ions. Secondary fragments already described could interact again with copper. Outside the metallic target, secondary neutrons got moderated and low energy nuclear reactions were studied in La and U radiochemically via (n,γ)-reactions and also with various solid state nuclear track detectors. One observed an indication, however not yet significant, of enhanced production rates for low energy nuclear reactions only with 44 GeV 12C, when compared to 18 GeV 12C-ions. Besides some proton irradiations at SATURNE, Saclay (France) at 2.6 GeV and at PSI, Villigen (Switzerland) at 0.6 GeV all other irradiations were carried out at the Synchrophasotron, LHE, JINR, Dubna (Russia). 46 refs., 14 figs., 8 tabs