Systematics of the release of residual nuclei from relativistic nucleus-nucleus interactions

We have examined relativistic nuclei of krypton, xenon, holmium, and gold, accelerated in a partially stripped state to a maximum rigidity of about 5.6 GeV, interacting with targets of aluminum, carbon, and polyethylene. For each projectile and target combination we determined the total and partial charge changing cross sections for the production of lighter fragments. From these measurements we have developed a new representation of the dependence of the total charge changing cross sections on beam and target charge. We have also identified simple representations of the variation of the partial cross sections with the charge of the produced fragments and shown that they are dependent on the charge and energy of the beam. The fission of gold nuclei at high energies in these various targets has also been studied.