Random walk versus discrete master equation for nuclear heavy ions: Theoretical and experimental distinctions

Abstract

The correspondence between a random walk process, comprising discrete steps on the integer values of (N, Z) and the Markovian discrete master equation which it uniquely specifies is reviewed. Differences between the random walk distribution calculated at integral values of the step count q and that of its Markovian master equation at corresponding values of the (continuous) time parameter ( are studied for a certain soluble two-dimensional example. The mean values of N and Z calculated from the random walk and Markovian master equation agree precisely. The second and higher moments which are also linear in the distribution function agree in leading order. But in this case, the N, Z correlation width vanishes identically for the master equation, and is finite in general for the random walk, while the widths of the distributions (which are bilinear in the distribution function) may differ even in leading order. The relevance of these differences to data measured against some independent variable (e.g. total kinetic energy loss in a heavyion collision), which is in fact uniquely related neither to q nor to t, is discussed. Since both random walk and master equations are currently used to analyze the phenomenology of nuclear heavy-ion collisions, the fact that they offer different predictions, and that depending upon the physical circumstances either (or neither) may be the correct description, recommends the development of a more rational basis for choosing between them.