Λ , Ξ and Ω yields and transverse mass spectra have been measured in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/ c . The yields in Pb-Pb interactions are presented as a function of the collision centrality and compared with those obtained from p-Pb collisions. Strangeness enhancement is observed which increases with centrality and with the strangeness content of the hyperon.
Data on φ -production obtained by the CERN NA49 experiment for central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV/u are presented. Compared with pp interactions the φ -yield shows substantial strangeness enhancement: the φ /π ratio is found to increase by a factor of 2.6 ± 0.6, which is approximately the square of the K/π enhancement.
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.
The production ofK0, Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) particles is studied in the E665 muon-nucleon experiment at Fermilab. The average multiplicities and squared transverse momenta are measured as a function ofxF andW2. Most features of the data can be well described by the Lund model. Within this model, the data on the K0/π± ratios and on the averageK0 multiplicity in the forward region favor a strangeness suppression factors/u in the fragmentation process near 0.20. Clear evidence for QCD effects is seen in the average squared transverse momentum ofK0 and Λ particles.
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.
Preliminary results from WA97 measurements on Λ, Ξ and Ω production in lead-lead and proton-lead collisions are presented, along with a comparison of WA97 proton-lead data with previous WA85 proton-tungsten results. The ratio Ω gX seems to be enhanced in lead initiated reactions compared to proton initiated reactions.
Results on the following π−p reactions involving a hyperon are studied at 4.5 and 6.0 GeV/c from a high-statistics bubble-chamber experiment. (1) π−p→(Λ, Σ0)K0: Differential cross sections and hyperon polarizations are presented. Comparison with the line-reversed reactions K¯N→(Λ, Σ0)π indicates the failure of the predictions of K*(890) and K*(1420) exchange degeneracy. Effective trajectories for these two reactions are compared. Shrinkage is observed in K¯N→Λπ and not in π−p→ΛK0. (2) π−p→(Λ, Σ0)K*(890)0: Differential cross sections, hyperon polarizations, and K*(890)0 density-matrix elements are determined. ΛK*(890)0 decay correlations are found to impose strong constraints on the scattering amplitudes. The data indicate that both natural- and unnatural-parity exchanges contribute large, but opposite, Λ polarizations. This behavior cannot be explained by a simple exchange model utilizing K and the exchange-degenerate K*(890) and K*(1420) only. Additional trajectories or absorption effects are required to obtain the observed Λ-polarization effects. Comparison of ΛK*(890)0 and Σ0K*(890)0 indicates the greater importance of unnatural-parity exchange in the former reaction. We observe no evidence for deviations from isospin predictions in ΛK*(890)0 production where K*(890)0→K+π− and KS0π0. (3) π−p→ΛK*(1420)0 and ΛK*(1300)0: K*(1420)0 density-matrix elements satisfying positivity constraints are determined allowing for s-wave interference effects. Evidence of the existence of a narrow K*(1300)0→Kππ with a dominant K+ρ− decay mode is observed in the 4.5- and 6-GeV/c data. (4) Σ(1385), Λ(1405), Λ(1520) production: Differential cross sections for the quasi-two-body reactions π−p→Y0K0, where Y0 is Λ(1405), Λ(1520), or Σ(1385)0, are presented and found to have a very similar flat slope in the forward direction. Data for forward K+ scattering in the reaction π−p→Σ(1385)−K+ are presented and discussed. It is argued that this forward peak cannot be explained by kinematic reflection or an s-channel effect and therefore must be due to either two-particle exchange or a single exotic exchange in the t channel.
Data on stable hadron production in p + p and p + n interactions at 200 GeV/ c are reviewed. Methods to construct missing data in the p + p, p + n, and n + n interactions are derived from charge symmetry and charge, baryon and strangeness conservation, and used to yield nucleon-nucleon interaction results. These may be useful for evaluating nucleus-nucleus collision measurements in terms of enhancements and suppressions. Parameterizations of p t 2 and rapidity distributions are presented to provide yields in acceptance cuts for comparisons to nucleus-nucleus data. As an example the derived nucleon-nucleon multiplicities are reduced to the acceptances of the NA-35 CERN S + S experiment.
K − /K + and p ¯ / p ratios measured in 158 A·GeV Pb+Pb collisions are shown as a function of transverse momentum P T and centrality in top 8.5% central region. Little centrality dependence of the K − / K + and p ¯ / p ratios is observed. The transverse mass m T distribution and dN/dy of K + , K − , p and p ¯ around mid-rapidity are obtained. The temperature T ch and the chemical potentials for both light and strange quarks (μ q , μ s ) at chemical freeze-out are determined by applying simple thermodynamical model to the present data. The resultant μ q , μ s and T ch are compared with those obtained from similar analysis of SPS S+A and AGS Si+A data. The chemical freeze-out temperature T ch at CERN energies is higher than thermal freeze-out temperature T fo which is extracted from m T distribution of charged hadrons. At AGS energies T ch is close to T fo .
Evidence for narrow states produced by Σ − interactions in beryllium, and decaying into ( Λ p + pions ), has been obtained in an experiment at the CERN SPS hyperon beam. At 3.1 GeV/ c 2 , the ( Λ p π + π + ), ( Λ p π + π + π − ) and ( Λ p π + π − ) effective mass distributions show an excess of 45, 19 and 62 events above a background of 50, 28 and 187, respectively. The possibility that these three signals are statistical fluctuations is remote. The observed widths of the signals are compatible with the mass resolution of the apparatus, 24 MeV/ c 2 FWHM. We have not been able to find an interpretation of the quantum numbers of the final states, which are baryon number 0, strangeness −1 and charge +1, 0 and −1.
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