Centrality Dependence of Charged Particle Multiplicity at Mid-Rapidity in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV

Abstract

We present a measurement of the pseudorapidity density of primary charged particles near mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV as a function of the number of participating nucleons. These results are compared to models in an attempt to discriminate between competing scenarios of particle production in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, revtex (submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters