The NA44 Collaboration has measured yields and differential distributions of K+, K-, pi+, pi- in transverse kinetic energy and rapidity, around the center-of-mass rapidity in 158 A GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. A considerable enhancement of K+ production per pi is observed, as compared to p+p collisions at this energy. To illustrate the importance of secondary hadron rescattering as an enhancement mechanism, we compare strangeness production at the SPS and AGS with predictions of the transport model RQMD.
Inclusive π − spectra have been measured for 14 N+C collisions at 41 A , 67 A , 80 A and 135 A MeV, the lowest energies measured for the charged pion. The cross sections fall exponentially with T π and the exponential slope factors at 90° in the nucleon-nucleon center of mass frame are determined. Energy distributions below a beam energy of 100 A MeV are less steep than expected from the monotonic decrease of the slope factor down to 100 A MeV. The production mechanism of energetic pions far below threshold is discussed for several models.
Transverse mass spectra of pions, kaons, and protons from the symmetric heavy-ion collisions 200 A GeV S+S and 158 A GeV Pb+Pb, measured in the NA44 focusing spectrometer at CERN, are presented. The mass dependence of the slope parameters provides evidence of collective transverse flow from expansion of the system in heavy-ion induced central collisions.
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Subthreshold ¯p andK− and energeticπ− production was studied in Ne + NaF, Cu, Sn and Bi, and in Ni + Ni collisions with incident energies between 1.6 and 2 GeV/u. The measured cross sections indicate a dominant contribution of baryonic resonances. This is also consistent with a generalized scaling behaviour of the cross sections with the energy available in the collision and the energy necessary to produce particles as observed with Ne induced reactions. Deviations from scaling especially pronounced in the Ni-Ni system will be discussed in terms of absorption effects. The flat slope of the excitation function for ¯p production can be related to a reduced production threshold caused by a reduction of the antiproton mass in the dense and heated medium by about 100—150 MeV/c2. A similar in-medium mass reduction is also indicated forK− mesons. An increased ¯p reabsorption probability for the heavier systems is concluded from the comparison of the ¯p yields in Ne + NaF, Ne + Sn and Ni + Ni collisions.
Antiproton production cross sections have been measured for minimum bias and central Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.6 A GeV c . The data presented cover the range of transverse momentum from 0.3 to 1.2 GeV c and lab rapidities from 1.1 to 1.7 units. The relative p π − and p K − yields are found to be the smallest for the heaviest system measured, central Si+Au collisions. For these collisions, the p π − ratio, determined from integrated yields for 1.1⩽ y ⩽1.7, is (0.84±0.07)×10 −3 . In the same rapidity interval, the average antiproton inverse m ⊥ slope is 141±14 MeV for central Si+Al and central Si+Au collisions.
New experimental data on antiproton production by carbon and deutron ions on copper and carbon nuclei at 3.65 GeV/nucleon and by proton at 3.65–8.1 GeV incident energy were obtained. Production angle is 24° and antiproton momentum is 0.8 GeV/c in the laboratory system.
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.
Momentum spectra of charged pions over nearly full rapidity coverage from target to beam rapidity have been measured in the 0-5% most central Au+Au collisions in the beam energy range from 2 to 8 AGeV by the E895 Experiment. Using a thermal parameterization to fit the transverse mass spectra, rapidity density distributions are extracted. The observed spectra are compared with predictions from the RQMD v2.3 cascade model and also to a thermal model including longitudinal flow. The total 4$\pi$ yields of the charged pions are used to infer an initial state entropy produced in the collisions.
Charged particle production in central S-S collisions at 200 GeV/ c per nucleon has been studied by the WA94 experiment at the CERN-SPS. Particle identification has been provided by the Omega RICH, while a silicon telescope in the Omega spectrometer and an array of MultiWire Proportional Chambers have been used to trace particles through the RICH detector. Production ratios and transverse mass spectra for π ± , K ± and p( p ) at central rapidity and p T > 1.3 GeV/ c are presented.