Interactions between 4He nuclei and protons at intermediate energies

Since the early 1970s, experiments have been performed to investigate the fragmentation of the lightest nuclei (d, 3H, 3He, and 4He) on protons at intermediate energies (∼0.2–2 GeV per nucleon). These experiments were set up in ITEP and LHE JINR and realized in an exclusive approach with the help of liquid hydrogen bubble chambers. This investigation is of great interest from two points of view: first, the possibility of detailed theoretical analysis of the data obtained in 4π geometry on the basis of a good understanding of the structure of the wavefunctions of these nuclei and, second, the search for exotic interaction mechanisms. This overview presents the latest, most interesting results of the ITEP experiment on the study of 4Hep interactions at 4He momenta of 2.7 and 5 GeV/c, on cross sections, elastic scattering, pair correlations of secondary nucleons, cumulative production of nucleons and the lightest nuclei (d, 3H, and 3He), the main features of exclusive reactions, and the search for possible multiquark bag production (dibaryons and tribaryons). The essential results of the independent JINR experiment at 8.6 and 13.6 GeV/c also come under discussion.