Charged Pion Production in p+C Collisions at 158 GeV/c Beam Momentum: Discussion

TL;DR

This paper analyzes pion production in proton-carbon collisions at 158 GeV/c using NA49 data, comparing it with proton-proton interactions to understand hadronization and separate projectile and target contributions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed separation of projectile and target contributions to pion yields in p+C collisions, enhancing understanding of hadronization in light nuclear interactions.

Findings

Projectile and target contributions to pion yields are quantitatively separated.

Comparison with p+p data reveals differences in hadronization mechanisms.

Results improve modeling of particle production in light nuclear collisions.

Abstract

The new data on pion production in p+C interactions from the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS are used for a detailed study of hadronization in the collision of protons with light nuclei. The comparison to the extensive set of data from p+p collisions obtained with the same detector allows for the separation and extraction of the projectile and target contributions to the pion yield both in longitudinal and in transverse momentum.