THE TRANSVERSE PROFILE OF A COLOR FLUX TUBE

The P(T) spectra of soft mesons produced in high-energy collisions con tain information on the transverse motion of quarks and antiquarks whi ch form these mesons. Using these data, we study the transverse profil e of the color flux tube in the context of the Schwinger's mechanism f or particle production by representing the transverse profile in terms of an effective transverse scalar potential. We find that the classic al turning point for the potential is of the order of 0.6 fm. However, the potential flattens out considerably beyond that point. Consequent ly, the wave function decays surprisingly slowly in the transverse dir ection as r-3/2 and extends much beyond the radius of the flux tube.