Pii: s0370-2693(01)01333-8

We present charged particle densities as a function of pseudorapidity and collision centrality for the 197Au+197Au reaction at √ sNN = 130 GeV. An integral charged particle multiplicity of 3860 ± 300 is found for the 5% most central events within the pseudorapidity range −4.7 η 4.7. At mid-rapidity an enhancement in the particle yields per participant nucleon pair is observed for central events. Near to the beam rapidity, a scaling of the particle yields consistent with the “limiting fragmentation” E-mail address: ssanders@ku.edu (S.J. Sanders). 1 Deceased. 0370-2693/01/$ – see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0370-2693(01)01333-8 228 BRAHMS Collaboration / Physics Letters B 523 (2001) 227–233 picture is observed. Our results are compared to other recent experimental and theoretical discussions of charged particle densities in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions.  2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.