String Junction and Diffusion of Baryon Charge in Multiparticle Production Processes

Abstract

We consider the phenomenological consequences of the assumption that the baryons are the systems of three quarks and string junction. The process of baryon number transfer due to string junction propagation in rapidity space is considered in detail. At high energies it leads to a significant effect in the net baryon production in $hN$ and $hA$ collisions at mid-rapidities and in the incident meson fragmentation region. The results of numerical calculations in the framework of the Quark--Gluon String Model are in reasonable agreement with the data.