Abstract
Multiparticle production processes in $pp$ collisions at the
central rapidity region are usually considered to be divided into
independent "soft" and "hard" components. The first is described by
exponential (thermal-like) transverse momentum spectra in the
low-$p_T$ region with a scale parameter $T$ associated with the
temperature of the hadronizing system. The second is governed by a
power-like distributions of transverse momenta with power index $n$
at high-$p_T$ associated with the hard scattering between partons.
We show that the hard-scattering integral can be approximated as a
nonextensive distribution of a quasi-power-law containing a scale
parameter $T$ and a power index $n=1/(q -1)$, where $q$ is the
nonextensivity parameter. We demonstrate that the whole region of
transverse momenta presently measurable at LHC experiments at
central rapidity (in which the observed cross sections varies by
$14$ orders of magnitude down to the low $p_T$ region) can be
adequately described by a single nonextensive distribution. These
results suggest the dominance of the hard-scattering
hadron-production process and the approximate validity of a
``no-hair" statistical-mechanical description of the $p_T$ spectra
for the whole $p_T$ region at central rapidity for $pp$ collisions
at high-energies.
