Production of φ Mesons on Nuclear Targets in the Quark–Gluon String Model

Abstract

Experimental data on the production of φ mesons in proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus collisions are considered. These data show unusually small shadowing corrections to the inclusive density for φ-meson production in the midrapidity region. It is found that the results of calculations based on the quark–gluon string model are in qualitative agreement with experimental data on the density of produced φ mesons as a function of both the initial energy ranging from the Collaboration NA49 energy to the LHC high energies and the target atomic number A.