Physics of particle collisions at high energies: limits to phenomenology, Part 3

Abstract

In continuation of our series of works on the phenomenological studies on production of particles in various high-energy collisions, we attempt here to deal exclusively with some very crucial aspects of Au–Au collisions at RHIC-BNL. With emphasis on understanding the qualitative and quantitative properties of several important observables related to Au–Au interactions at RHIC, we have also endeavored to analyze and assess, if possible, the limits to the successes and failures of such absolutely phenomenological approaches. As all the models in the domain of high-energy physics are invariably and essentially phenomenological in nature, we have also tried to pinpoint the main and major constrictions of and constraints on these approaches-cum-models. By this yardstick, even the so-called Standard Model (SM), which is too greatly lauded and taken for granted, cannot escape our critical remarks that are cast on the general framework of what is termed “phenomenology”, in the realm of physics in particular and of science in general.