RELATIVISTIC NUCLEAR-PHYSICS - RELATIVE 4-VELOCITY SPACE, SYMMETRIES OF SOLUTIONS, THE CORRELATION DEPLETION PRINCIPLE, SELF-SIMILARITY, AND INTERMEDIATE ASYMPTOTICS

An approach is described which is based an the application to relativi stic nuclear physics of similarity laws, the symmetries of solutions, and other methods not based on the Lagrangian method bur allowing the construction of models (solutions, laws of Nature) starting from first principles. Our approach permits (1) the determination of the nuclear collision region in which nucleons lose their identity and the energy asymptotes are approached, (2) the prediction and discovery of cumula tive processes, demonstrating the observability of multiparticle inter actions; (3) the unified description of deep-subthreshold, near-thresh old, and cumulative processes; (4) the quantitative description of the final states of nuclear collisions (multiparticle processes) on the b asis of the concepts of intermediate asymptotics and the correlation d epletion principle in relative four-velocity space; (5) the discovery of local selfsimilarity of the final states of nuclear collisions; (6) the quantitative description of antimatter production in relativistic nuclear collisions. The main features of the approach are illustrated by the most characteristic experimental data providing justification for our assertions. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.