TRANSVERSE ENERGY CUT AS CRITERIUM FOR CENTRAL EVENTS IN HIGH ENERGY NUCLEUS-NUCLEUS COLLISIONS

Abstract

The significance of transverse energy cut in choosing central nucleus-nucleus collision events is discussed. Introducing a characteristic quantity, the number μeqυ of equivalent energy sources in central collision, the whole ET distribution tail is reproduced successfully. This provides a natural way for defining the ET cut as a criterium for central events. The values of μeqυ and the corresponding ET-cut are both proportional to the number of participating nucleons in central collision, showing that this method is self-consistent.