A model for net-baryon rapidity distribution

In nuclear collisions, a sizable fraction of the available energy is carried away by baryons. As baryon number is conserved, the net-baryon \(B-\bar{B}\) retains information on the energy-momentum carried by the incoming nuclei. A simple and consistent model for net-baryon production in high energy proton–proton and nucleus–nucleus collisions is presented. The basic ingredients of the model are valence string formation based on standard PDFs with QCD evolution and string fragmentation via the Schwinger mechanism. The results of the model are presented and compared with data at different centre-of-mass energies and centralities, as well as with existing models. These results show that a good description of the main features of the net-baryon data is possible in the framework of a simplistic model, with the advantage of making the fundamental production mechanisms manifest.