Diffraction dissociation of high-energy protons in p-d interactions

Results are reported from a measurement of the inclusive process p+d→X+d in the region 0.03<vertical-bartvertical-bar<0.12 (GeV/c)2 and 5 GeV2<M)2approximately-less-than0.11p) for incident proton momenta from 150 to 400 GeV/c. We find that in this region, the differential cross section d2sigma/dt dM)2 varies only slowly with energy, falls exponentially with vertical-bartvertical-bar, and behaves to a good approximation as 1/M)2. The measurement was performed at Fermilab by detecting slow-recoil deuterons from a deuterium-gas-jet target placed at the internal beam of the accelerator