Charged-Particle Multiplicity Distribution from 200-GeVppInteractions

From 2728 events of 205-GeV $\mathrm{pp}$ interactions found in 15 000 pictures taken with the 30-in. hydrogen bubble chamber at the National Accelerator Laboratory, a total cross section of 39.5±1.1 mb was measured. The mean charged-particle multiplicity for inelastic $\mathrm{pp}$ collisions was measured to be 7.65±0.17. The prong distribution from 2 to 22 prongs is broader than a Poisson distribution and has a width parameter $f_2^{}{}_{}{}^{-}=〈n_{-}(n_{-}-1)〉-{〈n_{-}〉}^2=0.95\mathrm{}\pm 0.21$.