Results on charged pion and kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 20A and 30A GeV are presented and compared to data at lower and higher energies. A rapid change of the energy dependence is observed around 30A GeV for the yields of pions and kaons as well as for the shape of the transverse mass spectra. The change is compatible with the prediction that the threshold for production of a state of deconfined matter at the early stage of the collisions is located at low SPS energies.
Transverse mass spectra for pion production in the central rapidity region for collisions at 20 GeV per nucleon.
Transverse mass spectra for pion production in the central rapidity region for collisions at 30 GeV per nucleon.
Transverse mass spectra for kaon production in the central rapidity region for collisions at 20 GeV per nucleon.
Positive pion and kaon production from Au+Au reactions have been measured as a function of beam energy over the range 2.0-10.7~AGeV. Both the kaon and the pion production cross-sections at mid-rapidity are observed to increase steadily with beam kinetic energy. The ratio of K$^+$ to $\pi^+$ mid-rapidity yields increases from 0.0271$\pm0.0015\pm0.0014$ at 2.0~AGeV to 0.202$\pm0.005\pm0.010$ at 10.7~AGeV and is larger than the K$^+$/$\pi^+$ ratio from p+p reactions over the same beam energy region. There is no indication of an onset of any new production mechanism in heavy-ion reactions in this energy range beyond rescattering of hadrons.
The centrality selection at each beam energy is the most central 5% of the total interaction cross-section (SIG(C=interaction) = 6.8b). A single exponential function in MT was fit simultaneously to the two kaonspectra at each beam energy D2(N)/D(MT)/D(YRAP)/2/PI/MT=D(N)/D(YRAP)/2/PI/T/(T+ M(KAON))/EXP((MT-M(KAON))/T). The fits reproduce the spectra well with two free parameters, the inverse slope parameter T and the rapidity density, D(N)/D(YRAP)in that rapidity slice. The mid-rapidity range for 2, 4, 6, 8 AGeV is ABS((YRAP-Ynn)/Ynn) < 0.25, for 10.7 AGeV the width is ABS((YRAP-Ynn)/Ynn) < 0.125, where Ynn is mid-rapidity in the laboratory frame. The errors are statistical only. The 1.96, 4. and 10.74 GeV are E866 data, another - E917 data.
The centrality selection at each beam energy is the most central 5% of the total interaction cross-section (SIG(C=interaction) = 6.8b). A single exponential function in MT was fit simultaneously to the two kaonspectra at each beam energy D2(N)/D(MT)/D(YRAP)/2/PI/MT=D(N)/D(YRAP)/2/PI/T/(T+ M(KAON))/EXP((MT-M(KAON))/T). The fits reproduce the spectra well with two free parameters, the inverse slope parameter T and the rapidity density, D(N)/D(YRAP)in that rapidity slice. The mid-rapidity range for 2, 4, 6, 8 AGeV is ABS((YRAP-Ynn)/Ynn) < 0.25, for 10.7 AGeV the width is ABS((YRAP-Ynn)/Ynn) < 0.125, where Ynn is mid-rapidity in the laboratory frame. The errors are statistical only. The 1.96, 4. and 10.74 GeV are E866 data, another - E917 data.
The centrality selection at each beam energy is the most central 5% of the total interaction cross-section (SIG(C=interaction) = 6.8b). The spectra were fit with a scaled exponential, D2(N)/D(YRAP)/D(MT)/2/PI/MT=D(N)/D(YRAP)/2/PI/(T**(2-L))/GAMMA(2-L,M(PION)/T)/MT**L/EXP(MT/T), where GAMMA(2-L,M(PION)/T), the complementary incomplete gamma function, is introduced in the normalization so that D(N)/D(YRAP) is a fitted parameter (and other free parameters are L and T). The mid-rapidity range for 2, 4 (E866 data), 6, 8 AGeV (E917 data) beam energy is ABS((YRAP-Ynn)/Ynn) < 0.25, for 10.7 AGeV (E917 data) the width is ABS((YRAP-Ynn)/Ynn) <0.125, where Ynn is mid-rapidity in the laboratory frame. The errors are statistical only.
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