Centrality Dependence of Baryon and Meson Momentum Distributions in Proton-Nucleus Collisions

Abstract

The proton and neutron inclusive distributions in the projectile fragmentation region of $pA$ collisions are studied in the valon model. Momentum degradation and flavor changes due to the nuclear medium are described at the valon level using two parameters. Particle production is treated by means of the recombination subprocess. The centrality dependences of the net proton and neutron spectra of the NA49 data are satisfactorily reproduced. The effective degradation length is determined to be 17 fm. Pion inclusive distributions can be calculated without any adjustable parameters.