Production of hyperfragments from the interactions of 3.0 GeV/c and 5.0 GeV/c K− mesons with emulsion nuclei

A study has been made of the production of hyperfragments by the interactions of K−-mesons of 3.0 and 5.0 GeV/c momentum in nuclear emulsion. The observed frequencies of production, (3.0±0.1)% and (2.2±0.1)% respectively, are significantly smaller than at lower K−-meson momenta, while the range distributions show a relative increase in the number of hyperfragments of range greater than 5 µm. This increase is attributed to a larger contribution from the fragmentation process, which is especially significant at intermediate ranges [(10÷50) µm], and to greater mean ranges for the heavy hyperfragments, which broaden the peak at short ranges (⩽10 µm). The hyperfragments of range less than 10 µm are mainly heavy residual products of silver and bromine nuclei; their mass numbers differ on the average from those of the parent nuclei by about 30 and 35 nucleon masses for 3.0 and 5.0 GeV/c interactions respectively. Eight examples of π− mesonic decays of heavy hyperfragments, and one probable example of a double hyperfragment, have been observed.