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.
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.
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.
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