Abstract :
We show that the data on inclusive cross-sections for light mesons and baryons in high energy hadron-hadron interactions are consistent with a simple empirical formula σincl = a[(2J + 1)(2Im + 1)] exp(−bM2) observed recently in e+e− annihilations, where J is the spin, Im is a modified isospin and M is the mass of the produced particle. The same value of the slope parameter b is observed for e+e− annihilations at PEP/PETRA and LEP energies and for proton-proton interactions at ISR energies. This universal dependence points to a simple mass law for hadron states produced locally in string fragmentation irrespective of the configuration of the strings in various processes.
