Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Laboratory Drop Towers for the Experimental Simulation of Dust-aggregate Collisions in the Early Solar System
Published on: June 5, 2014
Significance of the fragmentation region in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions
B B Back1, M D Baker, D S Barton
1Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439-4843, USA.
Abstract:
We present measurements of the pseudorapidity distribution of primary charged particles produced in Au+Au collisions at three energies, sqrt[s(NN)]=19.6, 130, and 200 GeV, for a range of collision centrali-ties. The distribution narrows for more central collisions and excess particles are produced at high pseudorapidity in peripheral collisions. For a given centrality, however, the distributions are found to scale with energy according to the "limiting fragmentation" hypothesis. The universal fragmentation region described by this scaling grows in pseudorapidity with increasing collision energy, extending well away from the beam rapidity and covering more than half of the pseudorapidity range over which particles are produced. This approach to a universal limiting curve appears to be a dominant feature of the pseudorapidity distribution and therefore of the total particle production in these collisions.
Related Concept Videos
Mass Spectrometry: Molecular Fragmentation Overview
One type of fragmentation pattern is the cleavage of a single bond in the molecular ion. The cleavage leads to a radical and a cation. The cleavage can occur at...
Mass Spectrometry: Long-Chain Alkane Fragmentation
Mass Spectrometry: Alkene Fragmentation
Mass Spectrometry: Cycloalkene Fragmentation
Mass Spectrometry: Alkyne Fragmentation
Mass Spectrometry: Carboxylic Acid, Ester, and Amide Fragmentation
For example, the fragmentation of...

