The production of neutral strange particlesKso, Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) has been studied in 60 and 200 GeV per nucleon OAu and pAu collisions with the streamer chamber vertex spectrometer of the NA35 experiment at the CERN-SPS accelerator. Ratios of neutral strange particle production to negatively charged particle production in selected regions of phase space were measured to be the same in OAu and pAu reactions. The rates of strange particle production in central OAu collisions are about a factor of 16 higher than in pAu collisions when compared in the same regions of phase space. If an enhancement of strange particle production in OAu collisions relative to pAu collisions is considered to be a signature for quark-gluon plasma formation, no evidence supporting it is observed. The experimental results are compared to the Lund FRITIOF model.
We report on a systematic study of midrapidity transverse energy production and forward energy flow in interactions of16O and32S projectiles with S, Cu, Ag and Au targets at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon. The variation of the shape of theET distributions with target and projectile mass can be understood from collision geometry. AverageET values determined for central collisions show an increasing stopping power for heavier target nuclei. A higher relative stopping is observed at 60 GeV/nucleon than at 200 GeV/nucleon. Bjorken estimates of the energy density reach approximately 3 GeV/fm3 in highET events at 200 GeV/nucleon with16O and32S projectiles. The systematics of the data and the shapes ofET and pseudorapidity distributions are well described by the Lund model Fritiof.
We report a systematic study of mid-rapidityET production and forward energy flow in the interaction of16O projectiles on Al, Cu, Ag and Au at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon. First results onET production with32S projectiles are presented.
Product of charged kaons in central S + S and O + Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon has been studied in the NA 35 Streamer Chamber experiment. Mean multiplicities and transverse mass distributions were obtained. They were compared with nucleon-nucleon data and with model predictions.
The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton-nucleus and deuteron-gold interactions, as well as central oxygen-gold and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus-nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with `temperatures' between 145 +- 11 MeV (p+S interactions) and 244 +- 43 MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions.
Production of charged kaons in proton-sulphur, proton-gold, sulphur-sulphur and oxygen-gold collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon has been studied in the NA35 Streamer Chamber experiment. Rapidity and transverse mass distributions as well as mean multiplicities were obtained. The results are compared with nucleon-nucleon data and with model predictions.
The production of Λ,\(\bar \Lambda\) andKs0 has been studied in 200 GeV/nucleonp+S and S+S collisions in the streamer chamber of the NA35 experiment at the CERN SPS. Significant enhancement of the multiplicities of all observed strange particles relative to negative hadrons was observed in central S+S collisions, as compared top+p andp+S collisions. The latter collisions show no overall (relative) strangeness enhancement overp+p, but the rapidity distributions and hadron multiplicities indicate some secondary cascading production of Λ particles in thep+S andp+Au collisions. The Λ polarization in central S+S collisions was found to be compatible with zero up topT=2 GeV/c.
None
Inelastic cross sections at 60 and 200 GeV/nucleon are determined in a streamer chamber for 16 O on several nuclear targets. Charged particle multiplicity distributions for inelastic and central collisions are studied and compared with theoretical predictions. The inelastic cross section exhibit a geometrical dependence on nuclear radii. The multiplicity data are governed by the collision geometry. They are consistent with a picture of superposition of independent nucleon-nucleus interactions.
Multiplicity distributions of negatively charged particles have been studied in restricted phase space intervals for central S+S, O+Au and S+Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon. It is shown that multiplicity distributions are well described by a negative binomial form irrespectively of the size and dimensionality of phase space domain. A clan structure analysis reveals interesting similarities between complex nuclear collisions and a simple partonic shower. The lognormal distribution agrees reasonably well with the multiplicity data in large domains, but fails in the case of small intervals. No universal scaling function was found to describe the shape of multiplicity distributions in phase space intervals of varying size.