Nuclear-target diffraction dissociation in pi(+) and K+ collisions with Au and Al at 250 GeV/c

An analysis of theA-dependence of the target-diffractive cross-section is presented. Data on thet-dependence of the cross section are fitted in the usual exponential form. The mean multiplicity of negative particles produced diffractively is found not to be sensitive to the nuclear mass. TheA-dependence of the emitted proton multiplicity and the angular distributions of the produced charged particles suggest re-scattering of the emitted particles on other nucleons of the nucleus. All these facts are compared with results obtained by Monte-Carlo simulation according to a two-component Dual Parton Model.