MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE EQUILIBRATION IN HIGH-ENERGY NUCLEAR COLLISIONS

The equilibration process in high-energy nuclear collisions is studied in a simple microscopic cascade model based on the idealization of approximately straight trajectories. An algebraic solution method in terms of a moment expansion is developed and tested against the results of a numerical simulation. Account is taken of the diffuse geometry and the fluctuations in the collision number. The relaxation of various observables is studied as a function of the number of binary collisions. The model gives good quantitative reproduction of the inclusive proton spectra induced by 800 MeV/N nuclear beams. © 1979.