Evidence of fractal structures in hadrons

TL;DR

This paper provides evidence that hadronic matter exhibits fractal structures in particle momentum distributions, with universal features across different energy regimes, shedding light on the confinement-deconfinement phase transition.

Contribution

It demonstrates the presence of fractal characteristics in confined hadronic matter and suggests universality of certain fractal parameters across different energy regimes.

Findings

Fractal structures are observed in meson momentum distributions in proton-proton collisions.

The $q$-exponential behavior aligns with fractal characteristics.

Some fractal parameters are universal, independent of confinement or deconfinement.

Abstract

This study focuses on the presence of (multi)fractal structures in confined hadronic matter through the momentum distributions of mesons produced in proton-proton collisions between 23 GeV and 63 GeV. The analysis demonstrates that the $q$-exponential behaviour of the particle momentum distributions is consistent with fractal characteristics, exhibiting fractal structures in confined hadronic matter with features similar to those observed in the deconfined quark-gluon plasma (QGP) regime. Furthermore, the systematic analysis of meson production in hadronic collisions at energies below 1 TeV suggests that specific fractal parameters are universal, independently of confinement or deconfinement, while others may be influenced by the quark content of the produced meson. These results pave the way for further research exploring the implications of fractal structures on various physical distributions and offer insights into the nature of the phase transition between confined and deconfined regimes.