Trends in multiparticle production and some "predictions" for pp and PbPb collisions at LHC

TL;DR

This paper predicts particle multiplicities, distributions, and flow in LHC collisions based on lower-energy trends, questioning the universality of particle production mechanisms in high-energy physics.

Contribution

It introduces predictions for LHC collision outcomes and discusses implications for understanding the particle production mechanism.

Findings

Predicted multiplicities and distributions for LHC collisions

Implication that certain observables may be insensitive to the matter state

Highlights the universality and simplicity of particle production data

Abstract

Based on trends seen at lower energies we "predict" the multiplicities and pseudorapidity distributions of particle density and elliptic flow that will be seen in PbPb and pp collisions at the LHC. We argue that, if these predictions turn out to be correct, either these quantities are insensitive to the state of matter created in high energy heavy ion collisions or the observed simplicity and universality of the data must be telling us something profound about the mechanism of particle production, which to this date is not well understood.