Properties of Neutral Charmed Mesons in Proton--Nucleus Interactions at 70 GeV
The results of treatment of data obtained in the SERP-E-184experiment "Investigation of mechanisms of the production of charmed particles in proton-nucleus interactions at 70 GeV and their decays" by irradiating the active target of the SVD-2 facility consisting of carbon, silicon, and lead plates, are presented. After separating a signal from the two-particle decay of neutral charmed mesons and estimating the cross section for charm production at a threshold energy σ(cč)=7.1 \pm 2.4(stat.) \pm 1.4(syst.) \mub/nucleon, some properties of D mesons are investigated. These include the dependence of the cross section on the target mass number (its A dependence); the behavior of the differential cross sections dσ/dpt2 and dσ/dxF; and the dependence of the parameter α on the kinematical variables xF, pt2, and plab. The experimental results in question are compared with predictions obtained on the basis of the FRITIOF7.02 code.