The differential and total cross sections for kaon pair production in the pp->ppK+K- reaction have been measured at three beam energies of 2.65, 2.70, and 2.83 GeV using the ANKE magnetic spectrometer at the COSY-Juelich accelerator. These near-threshold data are separated into pairs arising from the decay of the phi-meson and the remainder. For the non-phi selection, the ratio of the differential cross sections in terms of the K-p and K+p invariant masses is strongly peaked towards low masses. This effect can be described quantitatively by using a simple ansatz for the K-p final state interaction, where it is seen that the data are sensitive to the magnitude of an effective K-p scattering length. When allowance is made for a small number of phi events where the K- rescatters from the proton, the phi region is equally well described at all three energies. A very similar phenomenon is discovered in the ratio of the cross sections as functions of the K-pp and K+pp invariant masses and the identical final state interaction model is also very successful here. The world data on the energy dependence of the non-phi total cross section is also reproduced, except possibly for the results closest to threshold.
K+ meson production in pA (A = C, Cu, Au) collisions has been studied using the ANKE spectrometer at an internal target position of the COSY-Juelich accelerator. The complete momentum spectrum of kaons emitted at forward angles, theta < 12 degrees, has been measured for a beam energy of T(p)=1.0 GeV, far below the free NN threshold of 1.58 GeV. The spectrum does not follow a thermal distribution at low kaon momenta and the larger momenta reflect a high degree of collectivity in the target nucleus.
Results from the HELIOS External Spectrometer on kaon production in 200 GeV/ A S + W and p + W collisions are presented. The K π ratios are compared with results from a lower beam energy and are found to be remarkably similar. Evidence for secondary production of K + by meson-baryon rescattering is reviewed. Our results at y = 1.0–1.5 are compared with neutral strange particle results at midrapidity.
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.
Antiproton production near midrapidity has been studied in central collisions of 32 S with sulphur, silver and gold nuclei at 200 GeV per nucleon. The measured transverse mass distributions can be described by an exponential with inverse slope parameters of about 200 MeV, similar to those obtained from Λ spectra. The rapidity density increases weakly with the target mass, ranging from 0.4 to 0.7. The ratio Λ p near midrapidity is approximately 1.4 on average, significantly larger than the corresponding ratio observed in proton-proton and proton-nucleus 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.
Mid-rapidity open charm spectra from direct reconstruction of $D^{0}$($\bar{D^0}$)$\to K^{\mp}\pi^{\pm}$ in d+Au collisions and indirect electron/positron measurements via charm semileptonic decays in p+p and d+Au collisions at \srt = 200 GeV are reported. The $D^{0}$($\bar{D^0}$) spectrum covers a transverse momentum ($p_T$) range of 0.1 $<p_T<$ 3 \GeVc whereas the electron spectra cover a range of 1 $<p_T<$ 4 GeV/$c$. The electron spectra show approximate binary collision scaling between p+p and d+Au collisions. From these two independent analyses, the differential cross section per nucleon-nucleon binary interaction at mid-rapidity for open charm production from d+Au collisions at RHIC is $d\sigma^{NN}_{c\bar{c}}/dy$=0.30$\pm$0.04 (stat.)$\pm$0.09(syst.) mb. The results are compared to theoretical calculations. Implications for charmoniumm results in A+A collisions are discussed.
We report the first observation of $K^{\star}(892)^{0}\to\pi K$ in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The transverse momentum spectrum of $(K^{\star0}+\bar{K}^{\star0})/2$ from central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=130$ GeV is presented. The ratios of the $K^{\star0}$ yield derived from these data to the yields of negative hadrons, charged kaons, and $\phi$ mesons have been measured in central and minimum bias collisions and compared with model predictions and comparable $e^{+}e^{-}$, $pp$, and $\bar{p}p$ results. The data indicate no dramatic reduction of $K^{\star0}$ production in relativistic heavy ion collisions despite expected losses due to rescattering effects.
In this paper Au+Au collisions at 11.6A GeV/c are characterized by two global observables: the energy measured near zero degrees (EZCAL) and the total event multiplicity. Particle spectra are measured for different event classes that are defined in a two-dimensional grid of both global observables. For moderately central events (σ/σint<12%) the proton dN/dy distributions do not depend on EZCAL but only on the event multiplicity. In contrast the shape of the proton transverse spectra shows little dependence on the event multiplicity. The change in the proton dN/dy distributions suggests that different conditions are formed in the collision for different event classes. These event classes are studied for signals of new physics by measuring pion and kaon spectra and yields. In the event classes doubly selected on EZCAL and multiplicity there is no indication of any unusual pion or kaon yields, spectra, or K/π ratio even in the events with extreme multiplicity.
During the recent commissioning of Au beams at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron facility, experiment 886 measured production cross sections for π±, K±, p, and p¯ in minimum bias Au+Pt collisions at 11.5A GeV/c. Invariant differential cross sections, Ed3σ/dp3, were measured at several rigidities (p/Z≤1.8 GeV/c) using a 5.7° (fixed-angle) focusing spectrometer. For comparison, particle production was measured in minimum bias Si+Pt collisions at 14.6A GeV/c using the same apparatus and in p+Pt collisions at 12.9 GeV/c using a similar spectrometer at KEK. When normalized to projectile mass, Aproj, the measured π± and K± cross sections are nearly equal for the p+Pt and Si+Pt reactions. In contrast to this behavior, the π− cross section measured in Au+Pt shows a significant excess beyond Aproj scaling of the p+Pt measurement. This enhancement suggests collective phenomena contribute significantly to π− production in the larger Au+Pt colliding system. For the Au+Pt reaction, the π+ and K+ yields also exceed Aproj scaling of p+Pt collisions. However, little significance can be attributed to these excesses due to larger experimental uncertainties for the positive rigidity Au beam measurements. For antiprotons, the Si+Pt and Au+Pt cross sections fall well below Aproj scaling of the p+Pt yields indicating a substantial fraction of the nuclear projectile is ineffective for p¯ production. Comparing with p+Pt multiplicities, the Si+Pt and Au+Pt antiproton yields agree with that expected solely from ‘‘first’’ nucleon-nucleon collisions (i.e., collisions between previously unstruck nucleons). In light of expected p¯ annihilation in the colliding system, such projectile independence is unexpected without additional (projectile dependent) sources of p¯ production. In this case, the data indicate an approximate balance exists between absorption and additional sources of antiprotons. This balance is remarkable given the wide range of projectile mass spanned by these measurements.