Influence of collision centrality upon participant protons in d+C, α+C, and C+C interactions at 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon

The influence of collision centrality upon mean kinematic characteristics and spectra of participant protons d+C, α+C, and C+C interactions at 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon is analyzed. The net charge Q of secondary particles is used as a measure of collision centrality. An increase in 〈$p_T$〉 of participant protons with increasing Q is observed for all types of interactions analyzed. The net charge is also seen to affect the form of the rapidity spectra of participant protons in C-C interactions. The intranuclear cascade model cannot explain the dependence of these proton characteristics upon Q.