Global transverse energy distributions in Si+Al, Au at 14.6A GeV/c and Au+Au at 11.6A GeV/c

Abstract Measurements of the global transverse energy distributions dσ / dE T and dE T / dη using the new AGS beam of 197 Au at 11.6 A GeV/ c on a Au target, as well as a beam of 28 Si at 14.6 A GeV/ c on Al and Au targets, are presented for a leadglass detector with acceptance 1.3 ≤ η ≤ 2.4 and 0 ≤ φ π . The dσ / dE T spectra are observed to have different shapes for the different systems and simple energy rescaling does not account for the projectile dependence. The Au+Au dσ / dE T spectrum is satisfactorily constructed from the upper edge of Si+Au by the geometric Wounded Projectile Nucleon Model after applying a correction for the beam energy.