Cosmophysical aspects of relativistic nuclear fragmentation

Abstract

The status of the study of multiple fragmentation of 950 MeV per nucleon Kr nuclei in a nuclear track emulsion aimed at determining the contributions of 2$\alpha$ decays of $^{8}$Be, the Hoyle 3$\alpha$ state, and the search for a 4$\alpha$ particle condensate state, is presented. In events with the production of few relativistic fragments of He and H, the possibility of estimating the multiplicity of neutrons in the fragmentation cone of a projectile nucleus is studied. For the planar component of neutron transverse momenta estimated from the angles of observed secondary stars, the Rayleigh distribution parameter was 35 $\pm$ 7 MeV/$c$. The importance of such events for the interpretation of cosmophysical observations is noted.