Scaling of semi-inclusive cross sections with respect to longitudinal and transverse momenta

The semi-inclusive one-particle transverse and longitudinal momenta spectra of π^± mesons have been studied in the centre-of-mass system for π^?p interactions at 40 GeV/c. These data are compared with similar data from pp interactions at 300 GeV/c and lower energies. Distributions in the variables p_T/〈p_T〉 and p_L/〈p_L〉 reveal scaling properties, which are found to be substantially independent of the nature of the projectile, of the incident energy and of the prong multiplicity. These spectra are reasonably described by universal functions.