Cumulative pion production via successive collisions in nuclear medium

Production of pions in proton-nucleus (p+A) reactions outside of a kinematical boundary of proton-nucleon collisions, the so-called cumulative effect, is studied. The kinematical restrictions on pions emitted in backward direction in the target rest frame are analyzed. It is shown that cumulative pion production requires a presence of massive baryonic resonances that are produced during successive collisions of projectile with nuclear nucleons. After each successive collision the mass of created resonance may increase and, simultaneously, its longitudinal velocity decreases. Simulations within Ultra relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics model reveals that successive collisions of baryonic resonances with nuclear nucleons plays the dominant role in cumulative pion production in p+A reactions.