Koba-Nielsen-Olesen scaling and phase transitions of the Feynman-Wilson gas

Abstract

The implications of Koba-Nielsen-Olesen scaling on the thermodynamic properties of the Feynman-Wilson gas are discussed. Consequences of the existence of a thermodynamic limit as a fundamental demand on hadronic physics at asymptotic energies are deduced. It is generally found that the Feynman-Wilson gas undergoes a phase transition at infinite energies. First-order transitions lead to average multiplicity growth like the rapidity $Y$, while higher-order transitions correspond to the behavior suggested by the absorptive-model cutting rules in Pomeron calculus. Possible links with the critical phenomena obtained in Reggeon field theories are conjectured.