Centrality dependence of charged particle multiplicity at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[SNN]=130 GeV

We present a measurement of the pseudorapidity density of primary charged particles near midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[SNN]=130 GeV as a function of the number of participating nucleons. The pseudorapidity density, dNch/dη||η|≤1/(1/2〈Npart〉) , rises from 2.87±0.21 in peripheral events (〈Npart〉∼83) to 3.45±0.18 in central events (〈Npart〉∼ 353), which is 53±8% higher than pp̄ collisions at a similar center-of-mass energy. This is consistent with an additional contribution to charged particle production that scales with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions (Ncoll).