Measurements of charged pion and kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40, 80 and 158 AGeV are presented. These are compared with data at lower and higher energies as well as with results from p+p interactions. The mean pion multiplicity per wounded nucleon increases approximately linearly with s_NN^1/4 with a change of slope starting in the region 15-40 AGeV. The change from pion suppression with respect to p+p interactions, as observed at low collision energies, to pion enhancement at high energies occurs at about 40 AGeV. A non-monotonic energy dependence of the ratio of K^+ to pi^+ yields is observed, with a maximum close to 40 AGeV and an indication of a nearly constant value at higher energies.The measured dependences may be related to an increase of the entropy production and a decrease of the strangeness to entropy ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions in the low SPS energy range, which is consistent with the hypothesis that a transient state of deconfined matter is created above these energies. Other interpretations of the data are also discussed.
Yields and phase space distributions of φ -mesons emitted from p+p (minimum bias trigger), p+Pb (at various centralities) and central Pb+Pb collisions are reported ( E beam =158 A GeV). The decay φ →K + K − was used for identification. The φ / π ratio is found to increase by a factor of 3.0±0.7 from inelastic p+p to central Pb+Pb. Significant enhancement in this ratio is also observed in subclasses of p+p events (characterized by high charged-particle multiplicity) as well as in the forward hemisphere of central p+Pb collisions. In Pb+Pb no shift or significant broadening of the φ -peak is seen.
Emission of light fragments at small angles is studied in relativistic heavy ion collisions using the Diogene plastic wall for both symmetrical and non-symmetrical target-projectile systems with 400 MeV per nucleon and 800 MeV per nucleon incident neon nuclei. Efficiency of multiplicity measurements in the small angle range for the selection of central or peripheral collisions is confirmed for asymmetric systems. Differential production cross sections of Z = 1 fragments show evidence for the existence of two emitting sources. The apparent temperature of each source is obtained from comparison with a thermodynamical model.
We report measurements of Xi and Xi-bar hyperon absolute yields as a function of rapidity in 158 GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions. At midrapidity, dN/dy = 2.29 +/- 0.12 for Xi, and 0.52 +/- 0.05 for Xi-bar, leading to the ratio of Xi-bar/Xi = 0.23 +/- 0.03. Inverse slope parameters fitted to the measured transverse mass spectra are of the order of 300 MeV near mid-rapidity. The estimated total yield of Xi particles in Pb+Pb central interactions amounts to 7.4 +/- 1.0 per collision. Comparison to Xi production in properly scaled p+p reactions at the same energy reveals a dramatic enhancement (about one order of magnitude) of Xi production in Pb+Pb central collisions over elementary hadron interactions.
Phi meson production is studied by the NA49 collaboration in central Pb+Pb collisions at 20A, 30A, 40A, 80A and 158A GeV beam energy. The data are compared to measurements at lower and higher energies and to microscopic and thermal models. The energy dependence of yields and spectral distributions is compatible with the assumption that partonic degrees of freedom set in at low SPS energies.
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.
Light-particle emission from Au+Au collisions has been studied in the bombarding-energy range 100-250 A·MeV, using DeltaE- ER telescopes in coincidence with the FOPI detector in its phase I configuration. Center-of-mass energy spectra have been measured for Z = 1,2 isotopes emitted in central collisions at CM polar angles between 60° and 90°. Evidence for a collective expansion is reported, on the basis of the mean kinetic energies of hydrogen isotopes. Comparison is presented with statistical calculations (WIX code). For CM kinetic energy spectra, fair agreement is found between data and a recently developed transport model.
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The production of two high-p_T jets in the interactions of quasi-real photons in e+e- collisions at sqrt{s_ee} from 189 GeV to 209 GeV is studied with data corresponding to an integrated e+e- luminosity of 550 pb^{-1}. The jets reconstructed by the k_T cluster algorithm are defined within the pseudo-rapidity range -1 < eta < 1 and with jet transverse momentum, p_T, above 3 GeV/c. The differential di-jet cross-section is measured as a function of the mean transverse momentum ptmean of the jets and is compared to perturbative QCD calculations.
Inclusive double differential multiplicities d2N/dy dpt and related quantities have been measured for protons and deuterons produced in 14.6A GeV/c Si+Al and Si+Pb collisions using the E814 forward spectrometer at the AGS at BNL. Collision ‘‘centrality’’ is determined by measuring Nc, the total charged particle multiplicity in the pseudorapidity range 0.85<η<3.8. For both systems Si + Al and Si + Pb, an increase in the proton rapidity distribution dN/dy at midrapidity and a corresponding decrease at higher rapidities are observed with increasing Nc. For Si+Pb, Boltzmann slope parameters TB increase significantly in the most central collisions. The measured distributions exhibit a centrality dependence even when σ/σgeo≲10%, where full overlap between the Si and Pb nuclei occurs in a simple geometric picture. The proton rapidity distribution dN/dy is presented for the symmetric system Si+Al over the entire rapididty interval. The total number of protons, which is the integral of this quantity over rapidity, varies with Nc. Results are compared with various model calculations, mostly using the hadronic cascade codes ARC and RQMD. No significant nuclear transparency is observed, indicating that large baryon and energy densities are produced in these collisions.
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