Universality of identified hadron production in pp collisions

The shapes of invariant differential cross section for identified \(\pi ^{\pm },K^{\pm }, p\) and \(\overline{p}\) production as a function of transverse momentum measured in \(pp\) collisions by the PHENIX detector are analyzed in terms of a recently introduced approach. Simultaneous fits of these data to the sum of exponential and power-law terms show a significant difference in the exponential term contributions. This effect qualitatively explains the observed shape of the experimental \(K/\pi \) and \(p/\pi \) yield ratios measured as a function of transverse momentum of produced hadrons. A picture with two types of mechanisms for hadron production is presented. Universality of the power-law term behavior for \(\pi ^{\pm },K^{\pm }, p\), and \(\overline{p}\) production is shown.