Large Transverse Momenta and Tsallis Thermodynamics

Abstract: The charged particle transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectra measured by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in proton - proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 0.9 and 7 TeV have been studied using Tsallis thermodynamics. A thermodynamically consistent form of the Tsallis distribution is used for fitting the transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity. It is found that the fits based on the proposed distribution provide an excellent description over 14 orders of magnitude with $p_T$ values up to 200 GeV/c.