Nuclear fragmentation cross-sections of 400 A MeV 36Ar and 40Ar in collisions with light and heavy target nuclei

Abstract We have measured fragmentation cross-sections of Ar projectile nuclei at beam energy of 400 A MeV using experimental set-ups with plastic nuclear track detectors and different targets. In this paper total charge changing cross-sections and elemental fragmentation cross-sections for the production of fragments with charges Z F ⩾ 7 in interactions with H, C, Al, Cu, Ag and Pb target nuclei are presented. The dependence of the cross-sections on the fragment charge number and target charge number are discussed. The experimental results are compared to predictions of semi empirical cross-section models.