Formation of 24Mg* in the spallation of 28Si nuclei by 1-GeV protons

The ²⁸Si(p, p′γ₀ X)²⁴Mg reaction has been studied at the ITEP accelerator by the hadron-gamma coincidence method for a proton energy of 1 GeV. Two reaction products are detected: a 1368.6-keV γ-ray photon accompanying the transition of the ²⁴Mg* nucleus from the first excited state to the ground state and a proton p′ whose momentum is measured in a magnetic spectrometer. The measured distribution in the energy lost by the proton in interaction is attributed to five processes: the direct knockout of a nuclear α cluster, the knockout of four nucleons with a total charge number of 2, the formation of the _ΔSi isobaric nucleus, the formation of the Δ isobar in the interaction of the incident proton with a nuclear nucleon, and the production of a π meson, which is at rest in the nuclear reference frame. The last process likely corresponds to the reaction of the formation of a deeply bound pion state in the ²⁸P nucleus. Such states were previously observed only on heavy nuclei. The cross sections for the listed processes have been estimated.