Evidence for directp p interactions in the fragmentation channelp +α →p + pX at √s=88 GeV

We have investigated kinematical correlations between the outgoing beam proton and the proton emerging from the fragmentingα-particle inpα collisions at <img src="/fulltext-image.asp?format=htmlnonpaginated&src=X83X25625N645Q34_html\10050_2005_Article_BF01290756_TeX2GIFIE1.gif" border="0" alt=" $$\sqrt {s_{p\alpha } } = 88GeV$$ " />. Strong correlations are seen, indicating the dominance of quasi-elasticpp scattering in the fragmentation channelp+α→p+pX, for the ¦t¦ range 0.05–1.00 (GeV/c)². A Monte Carlo simulation of this process can explain the observed correlation spectra assuming an admixture of about 16% spectator protons.