Complete destruction of heavy nuclei by hadrons and nuclei

The total disintegration is considered of nuclei with atomic weights approx. equal to100 and 200 by high energy hadrons and He4, C12 nuclei with a momentum of 4.5 GeV/c per nucleon. It is shown that mainly nucleons are emitted, and there is no residual nucleus the mass of which is comparable to that of the primary nucleus. The probability of total disintegration is considered as a function of projectile energy and mass. The multiplicity, energy and emission angle of particles are considered as well. It is shown that the density of nuclear matter in the overlap zone of colliding nuclei exceeds the usual one by a factor of approx. equal to4. A comparison is made with interaction models, A conclusion is drawn of the collective interaction mechanism (perhaps, of the shock wave type) of particle ejection from the target nucleus at the first stage of interaction and of explosive decay of the residual nucleus at the next one. (orig.)