Differential transverse flow in central C-Ne and C-Cu collisions at 3.7 GeV/nucleon

The differential transverse flow of protons and pions in central C-Ne and C-Cu collisions at a beam energy of 3.7 GeV/nucleon was measured as a function of transverse momentum at the SKM-200-GIBS setup of JINR. In agreement with predictions of a transversely moving thermal model, the strength of proton differential transverse flow is found to first increase gradually and then saturate with the increasing transverse momentum in both systems. While pions are preferentially emitted in the same direction of the proton transverse flow in the reaction of C-Ne, they exhibit an antiflow to the opposite direction of the proton transverse flow in the reaction of C-Cu due to stronger shadowing effects of the heavier target in the whole range of transverse momentum