Rapidity dependence of negative and all-charged multiplicities in non-diffractive π+p and pp collisions at 250 GeV/c

Abstract Multiplicity distributions of all charged and of negative particles for non (single)-diffractive events in π + p and pp collisions at 250 GeV/ c ( s =22 GeV ) are presented for various rapidity intervals. The data are well described by the negative binomial distribution. The π + p and pp data are different for full phase space, but similar for the central region. In the central region, the relation k ch ≈ 1 2 k − holds for all charged and negative multiplicities. This favours the interpretation in terms of cascade models above (partial) stimulated emission models.