Charged particle densities from Au plus Au collisions at √SNN=130 GeV

We present charged particle densities as a function of pseudorapidity and collision centrality for the Au-197 + Au-197 reaction at roots(NN) = 130 GeV. An integral charged particle multiplicity of 3860 +/- 300 is found for the 5% most central events within the pseudorapidity range -4.7 less than or equal to eta less than or equal to 4.7. At mid-rapidity an enhancement in the particle yields per participant nucleon pair is observed for central events. Near to the beam rapidity, a scaling of the particle yields consistent with the "limiting fragmentation" picture is observed. Our results are compared to other recent experimental and theoretical discussions of charged particle densities in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.