Study the high-energy (GeV - TeV) hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions

Abstract

The purpose of the project is to study the high-energy (GeV - TeV) hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions, in order to clarify the elementary structure of the hadrons and mechanism of reactions involving hadronic matter formed in these collisions. With the simultaneous analysis of these systems, we intend to reach a unified comprehension of hadronic interactions. This analysis faces with the problem of describing strongly interacting many-body systems controlled by a relativistic dynamics, to which no fundamental and tractable theory is available yet. Within this context, the elaboration of phenomenological models is crucial as a first step toward this direction. Specifically, problems treated in the project are i) description of (total, elastic, inelastic and difractive) cross sections and inclusive spectra of particles in multiple production; ii) correlations among produced particles, interferometry, multiplicity distributions and fluctuations; iii) production and suppression of strangeness and charm in hadronic matter; iv) exotic events (Centauros, Chirons, etc.); v) description of the dynamics of sub-nuclear and sub-hadronic degrees of freedom; vi) models of hadrons: Skyrmions and bags; etc. Among the different working methods, to analyzing experimental data, we have statistical and hydrodynamical models, string models, eikonal models, intranuclear cascades (being the parameters of these models understood in terms of non-perturbative QCD), non-relativistic QCD, QCD sum rules, methods of many-body problems applied to effective fields, etc. (AU)