ON MULTIPLICITY DISTRIBUTION OF HIGH-ENERGY PION-NUCLEON AND NUCLEON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS BEYOND 1 GEV

The experimentally observed multiplicity distributions of charged secondaries in pion-nucleon and nucleon-nucleon interactions at primary energies beyond 1 GeV are analysed. It is shown that these distributions can be better approximated by a function of the form f(n)=c -1 n β 1exp [-n 2/2α2] than by the Poisson multiplicity distribution of the form f(n)=c -1 exp [-λ)]λ n /n]. The energy dependence of the parameters α, β and λ, and that of the average multiplicity, the ratio of the average multiplicity to the dispersion and the inelastic cross-section for the production of n charged secondaries are all investigated. Rules for the ratio of the inelastic cross-section for the production of n charged secondaries in πN interactions to that in NN interactions, as well as for the ratio of the average multiplicity of πN interactions to that of NN interactions are established. © 1969 Società Italiana di Fisica.