Limiting fragmentation in heavy-ion stopping?

Abstract

Based on a nonequilibrium-statistical relativistic diffusion model that is consistent with quantum chromodynamics (QCD), we investigate baryon stopping in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies. The net-proton rapidity distributions of the individual fragments exhibit a scaling behaviour similar to limiting fragmentation (LF) that is related to geometric scaling in the colour-glass condensate (CGC) and depends upon the gluon saturation scale. Forward-angle net-proton data at energies reached at the LHC are required to verify the prediction.

Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures; minor misprint in Fig. 5 corrected (upper filled square)