A systematic set of measurements of the global transverse energy distributions, {ital d}{sigma}/{ital dE}{sub {ital T}} and {ital dE}{sub {ital T}}/{ital d}{eta}, from beams of protons, {sup 16}O and ...{sup 28}Si at 14.6{ital A} GeV/{ital c}, incident on targets ranging from Be to Au is presented. The detector was a semicircular array of lead-glass blocks, covering polar angles 9{degree}{lt}{theta}{lt}32{degree}, whose total response provides a good measure of the produced particle yield in the central rapidity region of these reactions. Proton-nucleus spectra exhibit a similar shape on the high-energy tail, independent of target, suggesting that produced particles in such events arise mostly from the first collision of the projectile proton. For targets heavier than Cu, the high-energy edges of the oxygen-nucleus spectra, and of the silicon-nucleus spectra, reach ratios consistent with the geometry of central collisions. Angular distributions, {ital dE}{sub {ital T}}/{ital d}{eta}, are characterized by Gaussian fits, and an acceptance-independent form of the differential cross section is found, based on the maximum value of {ital dE}{sub {ital T}}/{ital d}{eta}. The projectile dependence of nucleus-nucleus spectra is studied in terms of two very different models: simple energy scaling and the wounded projectile nucleon model of {ital p}+{ital A} convolutions.
Forward and transverse energy spectra and the correlation between these two global variables have been measured for the interaction of 14.6{ital A} GeV/{ital c} {sup 28}Si ions with {sup 27}Al and ...{sup 197}Au. The energy in produced particles near midrapidity is observed to be negatively correlated with forward energy. There is minimal target mass dependence of this correlation for peripheral and semicentral interactions (forward energies{gt}80 GeV). However, the fact that transverse energies for more central collisions in Au become increasingly larger than those in Al ({similar to}50% greater in the limit of zero forward energy), provides evidence for multiple interactions of projectile nucleons in the larger target. The experimental results are discussed in terms of calculations based on a model for nucleus-nucleus interactions.
