Study of the leading proton spectra in experiments on 68-GeV/c proton scattering on protons and C, Al, Cu, Sn, Pb nuclei

Making use of the JINR synchrophasotron and applying the magnetic spectrometer with multiwire proportional chambers, data have been obtained on the absolute values of the differential cross sections d /sup 2/ sigma /d Omega dp of the yield of leading protons in the reactions p+A to p+X on protons and other nuclei at the initial proton momentum p/sub 0/=6.8 GeV/c at scattering angles 16<or= theta <or=40 mr and momenta 0.6<or=p/p/sub 0/<or=0.95. For the nuclei C, Al, Cu, Sn and Pb the A dependence (A is the atomic number of the nuclear target) was presented in the form d/sup 2/ sigma /d Omega dp=nA/sup alpha /. The parameters n and alpha were determined for various scattering angles and momenta. The average value of the exponent alpha ( alpha =0.42+or-0.01) coincides within the errors with a similar quantity obtained using the CERN data at p/sub 0/=19.2 GeV/c at the same average value of the transverse momentum p/sub T/=p. theta approximately=200 MeV/c as in the present experiment. (9 refs).