A comparative analysis of statistical hadron production

• Published in: The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Particles and fields, 2010-04, Vol.66 (3-4), p.377-386
• Main Authors: Becattini, F., Castorina, P., Milov, A., Satz, H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics and Cosmology; Collisions; Elementary Particles; Exact sciences and technology; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; Parameterization; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Statistical models; String Theory; The physics of elementary particles and fields
• ISSN: 1434-6044; 1434-6052
• DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1265-y

We perform a systematic comparison of the statistical model parametrization of hadron abundances observed in high-energy pp , AA and e + e − collisions. The basic aim of the study is to test if the quality of the description depends on the nature of the collision process. In particular, we want to see if nuclear collisions, with multiple initial interactions, lead to “more thermal” average multiplicities than elementary pp collisions or e + e − annihilation. Such a comparison is meaningful only if it is based on data for the same or similar hadronic species and if the analyzed data has quantitatively similar errors. When these requirements are maintained, the quality of the statistical model description is found to be the same for the different initial collision configurations.