Study of rapidity-gap correlations in 400-GeV/cp−Ninteractions

A study of the rapidity-gap distribution from p-N interactions obtained from an emulsion stack exposed to a 400-GeV/c proton beam at Fermilab is reported. The data show that there is a correlation in rapidity gaps such that in general a small gap ( < or = 0.1) occurs next to a small gap. This observation favors a two-channel Chew-Pignotti-type multiperipheral model. Our data also suggest that an individual cluster should consist of more than two charged particles at our energy of 400 GeV.