Possible Implication of a Single Nonextensive pT Distribution for Hadron Production in High-Energy pp Collisions⋆

Abstract

Multiparticle production processes in pp collisions at the central rapidity region are usually considered to be divided into independent “soft” and “hard” components. The first is described by exponential (thermal-like) transverse momentum spectra in the low-pT region with a scale parameter T associated with the temperature of the hadronizing system. The second is governed by a power-like distributions of transverse momenta with power index n at high-pT associated with the hard scattering between partons. We show that the hard-scattering integral can be approximated as a nonextensive distribution of a quasi-power-law containing a scale parameter T and a power index n = 1/(q−1), where q is the nonextensivity parameter. We demonstrate that the whole region of transverse momenta presently measurable at LHC experiments at central rapidity (in which the observed cross sections varies by 14 orders of magnitude down to the low pT region) can be adequately described by a single nonextensive distribution. These results suggest the dominance of the hard-scattering hadron-production process and the approximate validity of a “no-hair” statistical-mechanical description of the pT spectra for the whole pT region at central rapidity for pp collisions at high-energies.