A relativistic theory of the inclusive scattering of nuclei is given. The theory is applicable to meson production reactions as well as to the yields of light nuclei. A characterization of the relativistic nuclear wave function is given and its connection to the standard wave function is explicitly shown. Counting rules are derived that allow one to simply characterize the behavior of the reaction cross sections in terms of the short-range behavior of the nucleon-nucleon force. Good agreement with experiment is achieved if the force is assumed to be due to the exchange of vector mesons with monopole form factors at each vertex. The predictions are successfully compared to several reactions.

• Received 7 February 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.15.3321