Analysis of multiplicities of particles produced in nucleus-nucleus interaction by means of a negative binomial distribution

By means of a negative binomial distribution the authors study in detail the multiplicity distributions of relativistic particles as fragments of the projectile and target nuclei, produced in the interaction of 22Ne at momentum 4.1A GeV/c with photoemulsion nuclei. In contrast to the relativistic particles, whose multiplicities are described well by a negative binomial distribution, the multiplicity distributions of the fragments of the spectator part of the projectile nucleus are superpositions of two negative binomial distributions corresponding to the channels of fragmentation into (α,p) and with a fragment with Z≥3. The ratio of the fractions of these channels increases with increase of the centrality of the interaction. The experimental data are in agreement with the existence of the fragmentation channel (α, p) of heavy target nuclei (Ag, Br)