Unified microscopic theory of hadron and light fragment inclusive production in relativistic heavy ion collisions

With the relativistic Boltzmann equation as a basis, we present a physically transparent theoretical approach to hadron and light fragment production in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. By use of multiple scattering expansion techniques and methods of transport theory, in combination with considerations from statistical thermodynamics, we arrive at a simple and practical model. Its flexibility and usefulness is demonstrated by a comparison with a variety of experimental data in the bombarding energy range of 400 MeV/nucleon to 2.1 GeV/nucleon.