Scaling behavior of charged hadron $p_T$ distributions in $pp$ and $p\bar{p}$ collisions

Abstract

We report on a scaling behaviour in the transverse momentum ($p_T$) distributions for charged hadrons produced in proton-proton ($pp$) collisions with different center of mass energies ($\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV) at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. This scaling behaviour appears when the $p_T$ is replaced by $p_T/K$, where $K$ is a parameter and depends on $\sqrt{s}$. A similar scaling behaviour is observed in the $p_T$ distributions of charged hadrons produced in proton-antiproton ($p\bar{p}$) collisions with $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.63, 1.8 and 1.96 TeV at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). The particle production mechanism behind the scaling behaviour in the $pp$ or $p\bar{p}$ collisions could be explained by the model of percolation of strings.

Comments: 10 pages in RevTeX, 5 eps figures included. Accepted by J.Phys. G