Inclusive spectra of pions produced in high-energy interactions

Abstract

Accelerator data on the inclusive spectra of secondary pions produced in high-energy hadron-hadron collisions are critically analysed. A range of secondary-particle spectra is derived from kinematical considerations, by taking into account the experimentally observed dependence of the total multiplicity of the secondaries on the primary-particle denergy. Two extreme cases are obtained if either Feynman’s scaling or a pure statistical model is taken. Parametrization of the variation with primary energy of the spectrum of secondaries in the central region seems also to describe spectra in the fragmentation region. The formula which gives the best fit to the data over the whole FNAL and ISR range differs from that predicted for Feynman scaling at least as much as from that obtained on the basis of the statistical-type approach.