Physics of particle collisions at high energies: Limits to phenomenology, Part 1

Interpretation and understanding of high-energy PP data in a clear, consistent, and comprehensive manner is crucial for making valid claims to build up any successful theoretical framework for particle interactions. We have tried here to analyze the various sets of PP data available from the pre-ISR days to the latest PP collisions at the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) experiment at root S-NN = 200 GeV in the light of a power-law model. Both mid-rapidity and high-rapidity data sets have been dealt with by applying the same working formula. It is found that the working formula used provides a good description of these wide ranging data sets; but hardly throws any deep insights into the nature of particle interactions that force us to question the worth and rigour of phenomenological studies.