Hadron Multiplicity in Lepton-Nucleon Interactions

Multi-hadron production in inelastic neutrino-nucleon interactions is investigated within the framework of the quark-gluon string model. The contributions of the planar (one-Reggeon exchange) and cylindrical (one-Pomeron exchange) graphs to different observables is computed using a Monte Carlo program for the generation of hadrons produced from the decay of colorless quark-antiquark strings. The suggested approach results in a satisfactory description of the experimental data on $\nu(\bar\nu) N\to\mu^-(\mu^+) h X$ reactions obtained recently at CERN by the NOMAD Collaboration. The data extends over a wide range of initial neutrino energies $E_\nu$ $<$ 200 GeV/c and momentum transfers 1 $<$ Q $<$ 7 GeV/c, well into the region where perturbative QCD calculations are not applicable.