Multiplicity density at mid-rapidity in $AA$ collisions: effect of meson cloud

Abstract

We study the influence of the meson cloud of the nucleon on predictions of the Monte Carlo Glauber model for the charged particle multiplicity density at mid-rapidity in $AA$ collisions. We find that for central $AA$ collisions the meson cloud can increase the multiplicity density by $\sim 16-18$\%. The meson-baryon Fock component reduces the required fraction of the binary collisions by a factor of $\sim 2$ for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.2$ TeV and $\sim 1.5$ for Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV.