Fragmentation of light ions at relativistic energies

Some simple reaction mechanisms for fragmentation of nuclei at relativistic energies are discussed. The inclusive spectra of fragments in longitudinal and transverse momenta give valuable information about the momentum distribution of a nucleon inside the fragmenting nuclei as well as effects of the nuclear mean field. The authors also report on preliminary results from the experiment R418 at the CERN ISR, where pα and αα reactions were studied at CM energies: √s approx. 88 and 125 GeV respectively. By examining two-particle correlations, the process of simple fragmentation and the so called hard-scattering process can be studied. (Auth.)