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On Distinguishing between Peripheral and Central High Energy Collisions
Author(s) -
Michejda L.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
fortschritte der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.469
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1521-3978
pISSN - 0015-8208
DOI - 10.1002/prop.19680161106
Subject(s) - unitarity , physics , angular momentum , moment (physics) , anisotropy , variable (mathematics) , yield (engineering) , function (biology) , jet (fluid) , phase (matter) , wave function , scattering , deep inelastic scattering , impact parameter , elastic scattering , total angular momentum quantum number , inelastic scattering , classical mechanics , particle physics , quantum mechanics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , mechanics , evolutionary biology , biology , thermodynamics
The idea of peripheral or central high‐energy collisions is expressed in terms of partial inelastic cross sections s̀ l corresponding to the initial particles being in the angular momentum state l . Various attempts to determine the total angular momentum J of the many‐body states and hence also of the cross sections s̀ l via the overlap function are discussed. It is shown that for the 8 GeV/ c π+p interactions neither the uncorrelated jet model nor the multi‐Regge‐exchange model yield the angular momenta which would satisfy the unitarity condition of the S ‐matrix, unless the variable phase of the wave function is introduced. From the fact that most of the anisotropy required by the high values of J expected from the data on elastic scattering is hidden in a phase dependence, and from a study of models with variable phase, we conclude that at the moment it is not possible to solve the question of distinguishing between peripheral and central collisions.