SCALING OF DEUTERON PRODUCTION IN ULTRARELATIVISTIC NUCLEUS-NUCLEUS COLLISIONS

Deuteron production in S- and Pb-induced collisions at ultrarelativist ic energies is studied in a transport model, treating the deuteron pro duction by phase space coalescence. The production rate of deuterons a s a function of rapidity, dN(d)/dy, is approximately found to satisfy a simple scaling behavior in terms of the proton and the pion rapidity distributions, dN(p)/dy and dN(pi)/dy, namely dN(d)/dy similar to (dN (p)/dy)(2)/(dN(pi)/dy), The scaling is a consequence of the near equal ity of the freeze-out volumes the nucleons and mesons, Violation of th e scaling is attributed to differences between these freeze-out volume s.