Parameterized total cross sections for pion production in nuclear collisions

Total inclusive cross sections for neutral and charged pion production in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus reactions have been calculated and compared to experiment. Nucleon-nucleon theoretical cross sections have been scaled up to nuclear collisions using a scaling factor similar to $(A_PA_T)^{2/3}$, where $A_P$ and $A_T$ are the nucleon numbers of the projectile and target nuclei. Variations in the power of this scaling factor have been studied and a good fit to experiment is obtained with a small modification of the power. Theoretical cross sections are written in a form that is very suitable for immediate input into transport codes