Charged Particle Fluctuation as Signal of the Dynamics in Heavy Ion Processes

Abstract

We compare the dispersion of the charges in a central rapidity box according to the Dual Parton Model with the predictions of statistical models. Significant deviations are found in heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. Hence the charged particle fluctuations should provide a clear signal of the dynamics of heavy ion processes. They should allow to directly measure the degree of thermalization in a quantitative way.

Comments: 11 pages, 11 figures, to be published in EJPC