Phenomenology of scaled factorial moments and future approaches for correlation studies

Abstract

We show that the definitions of the exclusive and inclusive scaled factorial moments are not equivalent, and propose the use of scaled factorial moments that reduce to the exclusive moments in the case of fixed multiplicity. We then present a new derivation of the multiplicity scaling law for scaled factorial moment data. This scaling law seems to hold, independent of collision energy, for events with fixed projectile and target. However, deviations from this scaling law indicate that correlations in S-Au collisions are 30 times as strong as correlations in hadronic collisions. Finally, we discuss “split-bin” correlation functions, the most useful tool for future investigations of these anomalously strong hadronic correlations.