The effect of nuclear binding energy on pion yields in relativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract

An alternative way for including the nuclear binding energy in intranuclear cascade calculations of relativistic heavy-ion collisions is presented. The present model strictly conserves the total energy and momentum of the system. Pions are produced only via the formation of Δ resonances and the pion absorption is taken into account through the delta recombination reaction. This simple treatment leads to a correct description of the pion multiplicity in the ArKCl reaction case. The proton and pion energy spectra calculated within this model agree with the data.