Multiplicity of Secondary Charged Hadrons As A Function of the Number of Interacting Protons in (P, D, He, C)Ta Collisions at an Incident Momentum of 2.3 Gev/C Per Nucleon

The numbers of interacting protons are measured for collisions of light relativistic nuclei p, d, He, and C with Ta nuclei at an incident momentum of 2.3 GeV/c per nucleon. Fluctuations in the number of interacting protons are shown to affect the multiplicity of secondary charged hadrons. The mean multiplicity of charged hadrons is measured as a function of the numbers of participant constituent protons in both nuclei.