A modified Glauber approximation and the formation of shock waves in high-energy heavy ion collisions

Coherent features in high energy heavy ion collisions are investigated from a microscopic viewpoint. A modified Glauber approximation which enables us to include the slowing down of the relative motion between the centers of masses of both nuclei is presented. The generation of the shock wave is shown to be suppressed by this slowing down effect. As an application inclusive nucleon spectra and the two-particle correlation are calculated in the case of Ne + U collision at 400 MeV/A. (author)