Multiplicity of charged particles in 800 GeV/c p-p interactions

Abstract

Results are reported concerning the charged-particle multiplicity distribution obtained in an exposure of the high-resolution hydrogen bubble chamber LEBC to a beam of 800 GeV protons at the Fermilab MPS. This is the first time that such data have been available at this energy. The distribution of the number n_ch of charged particles produced in inelastic interactions obeys KNO-scaling. The average multiplicity is <n_ch> = 10.26±0.15. For nch>=8 the data can be well fitted to a negative binomial. The difference between the overall experimental multiplicity distribution and that resulting from the latter fit is in agreement with the contribution expected from diffractive processes.