Extremely high multiplicities in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions
Two unusually-high-multiplicity interactions of high-energy heavy nuclei were observed in a balloon-borne emulsion chamber: an Si(+)AgBr event (4 TeV/nucleon) and a Ca(+)C event (100 TeV/nucleon), with 1015 and 760 charged particles, respectively. The multiplicities and rapidity distributions favor the multichain model but not the wounded-nucleon superposition model. The high average transverse momentum (550-700 MeV/c) and the rapid fluctuations of the events are not readily understood in terms of any superposition models.