Can Mueller - Regge models describe inclusive data consistently?

Abstract

An attempt is made to understand, both phenomenologically and theoretically, the details of inclusive processes. A complete phenomenological analysis of all inclusive pion data in the central region is presented (in the context of the Mueller-Regge picture with three trajectories $P$, $\rho$, and $f$). Particular attention is paid to the constraints of charge conjugation and the approach to scaling. All the data are found to fit quite well, including two-body correlations, which have been in considerable variance in previous treatments. One consequence is the prediction that $\pi \pi$ correlations scale from above. At NAL energies, the nonscaling part is found to be large. The constraint on the couplings ($\gamma$) imposed by charge conservation, ${\gamma }^{\mathrm{PP}}=\frac{4{\left({\gamma }^{P\rho }\right)}^2}{({\alpha }_P-{\alpha }_{\rho })}$, is satisfied. In addition, a number of couplings are found to be approximately exchange-degenerate. Based upon the phenomenological indications, we try to construct the simplest possible Mueller-Regge model with three trajectories obeying the constraints of charge conservation and with an exchange-degenerate $\rho$ and $f$. It is found that it is not possible to consistently construct such a model without adding additional physical mechanisms such as narrow-width resonances. Nevertheless, a model satisfying the above constraints without an exchange-degenerate $\rho$ and $f$ can be constructed and has many interesting properties that are borne out by the data. In the calculation of this model, extensive use is made of the recently proven equivalence of the Mueller-Regge and multiperipheral models.