Statistical Theory of Multiple Meson Production

The Fermi statistical theory of multiple meson production is examined, and its application to medium-energy pion-nucleon and nucleon-nucleon collisions is discussed. Various approximate calculational procedures are described and their results compared critically. It is found, by the use of a precise integration procedure, that a rigorous relativistic inclusion of the meson rest mass is necessary if one is to draw accurate conclusions from the postulates of the theory. The consequences of isotopic spin conservation are described and tables are given for the expected distribution of charged products from both pion-nucleon and nucleon-nucleon collisions. The theory is applied to the case of pion-nucleon collisions at 1.4 Bev, and is found to predict only poorly the tentative results of recent experiments. The failure of the theory to predict nucleon-nucleon collisions is also described, and possible modifications and improvements are discussed.