The imprints of nonextensive statistical mechanics in high-energy collisions

Abstract

To describe high-energy collisions, one widely uses thermodynamical methods and concepts which follow the classical Boltzmann–Gibbs (BG) approach. In many cases, however, either some deviations from the expected behaviour are observed experimentally or it is known that the conditions necessary for BG to be applied are satisfied only approximately. In other branches of physics where such situations are ubiquitous, the popular remedy is to resort, instead, to the so-called nonextensive statistics, the most popular example of which is Tsallis statistics. We shall provide here an overview of the possible imprints of nonextensitivity existing both in high-energy cosmic ray physics and in multiparticle production processes in hadronic collisions, in particular in heavy ion collisions. Some novel proposition for the interpretation of the nonextensitivity parameter q present in such circumstances will be discussed in more detail.