Cross sections are presented for the inclusive production of Λ hyperons in electron-positron annihilations at s=29 GeV based on the full 291-pb−1 sample of data taken in the High Resolution Spectrometer experiment at the SLAC e+e− storage ring PEP. These results, and the associated correlation analyses, are consistent with the Lund model predictions with the strange diquark suppression ratio δ fixed at 0.59±0.10±0.18, as compared to the standard Lund value of 0.32. The Λ multiplicity has been found to be 0.182±0.020 per event. The opposite-strangeness multiplicity 〈nΛΛ¯〉 has been measured to be 0.046±0.020, whereas the like-strangeness multiplicity 〈nΛΛ+Λ¯Λ¯〉 is 0.009±0.028. A strong correlation is found between Λ's and Λ¯'s; when one is found in an event, the other is found in the same event with a probability that exceeds 50%.

We have made the first direct measurement of the parity-violating coupling of the Z^0 boson to the strange quark, A_s, using ~550,000 e^+e^- ->Z^0->hadrons events produced with a polarized electron beam and recorded by the SLD experiment. Z^0 -> s-sbar events were tagged by the absence of B or D hadrons and the presence in each hemisphere of a high-momentum K^+- or K^0_s. From the polar angle distributions of the strangeness-signed thrust axis, we obtained A_s=0.895+-0.066(stat.)+-0.062(syst.). The analyzing power and u-ubar plus d-dbar background were constrained using the data.

We report new STAR measurements of mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$, $\Xi^{-}$, $\bar{\Xi}^{+}$, $\Omega^{-}$, $\bar{\Omega}^{+}$ particles in Cu+Cu collisions at \sNN{200}, and mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$ particles in Au+Au at \sNN{200}. We show that at a given number of participating nucleons, the production of strange hadrons is higher in Cu+Cu collisions than in Au+Au collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. We find that aspects of the enhancement factors for all particles can be described by a parameterization based on the fraction of participants that undergo multiple collisions.

From a sample of 2.36 million minimum bias events produced in p p collisions at s =630 GeV in the UA1 experiment and from other published data at the CERN S p p S collider we have estimated the relative production of π ± , π 0 , K ± , K S 0 , Λ, Λ , p and p . We obtain a meson over baryon ratio M B = 6.4 ± 1.1 . From the K S 0 π ± ratio we measure the strangeness suppression factor λ = 0.29 ± 0.02 ± 0.01 which, combining with other available data provides a new world average of 0.29 ± 0.015. Both the K S 0 π ± ratio and the strangeness suppression factor λ as a function of s are investigated, and an extrapolation to the LHC energy is performed.

We present inclusive ¶ and K *0 (892) cross sections and Feynman x -spectra in K + p collisions at 250 GeV/ c . In the K + fragmentation region, x > 0.2, the ratio of ¶ to K *0 (892) is used to estimate the strangeness suppression factor λ , with the result γ =0.17 ± 0.02 (stat ± 0.01 (syst). We see no evidence for an energy dependence of λ in the CM energy range 7.8 ≤ s ≤21.7 GeV.

The reaction pp → K + Λp was measured exclusively at the cooler synchrotron COSY at beam momenta of p Beam = 2.50 GeV/c and p Beam = 2.75 GeV/c using the TOF detector. Angular and momentum distributions were obtained for the full phase space of the reaction products. Total cross sections were extracted to be (2.7 ± 0.3) μ b and (12.0 ± 0.4) μ b, respectively. The polarization of the Λ -hyperon was determined as a function of its transversal momentum and was found to be negative for transverse momentum transfers of p T ≥ 0.3 GeV/c. The results together with existing data are compared with phenomenological parametrizations and model calculations on the basis of meson exchange.

In a study of K + p interactions at 12.7 GeV/ c we have carried out a search for meson resonances having any one of the following properties: (a) a strangeness of S =2, (b) S =1 and isotopic spin of I= 3 2 , or (c) S =1, I= 1 2 and decaying into an antihyperon ( Y ) and a nucleon (N).

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.

Neutral kaon to negative pion production ratios fromvp and\(\bar vp\) charged current interactions in BEBC are presented and compared with LUND fragmentation model predictions. Good agreement is obtained with a strangeness suppression factor λ=0.203±0.014(stat)±0.010(sys). No evidence is seen for an energy dependence of λ in our kinematic region.

Correlations in rapidity space are presented for identified π± and K± in e+e− annihilation at 29-GeV c.m. energy. Short-range KK correlations indicate local flavor compensation in the hadronization process. Long-range KK and ππ correlations prove that the initial partons carry flavor. In addition, we observe significant Kπ correlations as a result of heavy-quark decays.

We report the first multi-differential measurements of strange hadrons of $K^{-}$, $\phi$ and $\Xi^{-}$ yields as well as the ratios of $\phi/K^-$ and $\phi/\Xi^-$ in Au+Au collisions at ${\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = \rm{3\,GeV}}$ with the STAR experiment fixed target configuration at RHIC. The $\phi$ mesons and $\Xi^{-}$ hyperons are measured through hadronic decay channels, $\phi\rightarrow K^+K^-$ and $\Xi^-\rightarrow \Lambda\pi^-$. Collision centrality and rapidity dependence of the transverse momentum spectra for these strange hadrons are presented. The $4\pi$ yields and ratios are compared to thermal model and hadronic transport model predictions. At this collision energy, thermal model with grand canonical ensemble (GCE) under-predicts the $\phi/K^-$ and $\phi/\Xi^-$ ratios while the result of canonical ensemble (CE) calculations reproduce $\phi/K^-$, with the correlation length $r_c \sim 2.7$ fm, and $\phi/\Xi^-$, $r_c \sim 4.2$ fm, for the 0-10% central collisions. Hadronic transport models including high mass resonance decays could also describe the ratios. While thermal calculations with GCE work well for strangeness production in high energy collisions, the change to CE at $\rm{3\,GeV}$ implies a rather different medium property at high baryon density.

We present strange particle spectra and yields measured at mid-rapidity in $\sqrt{\text{s}}=200$ GeV proton-proton ($p+p$) collisions at RHIC. We find that the previously observed universal transverse mass ($\mathrm{m_{T}}\equiv\sqrt{\mathrm{p_{T}}^{2}+\mathrm{m}^{2}}$) scaling of hadron production in $p+p$ collisions seems to break down at higher \mt and that there is a difference in the shape of the \mt spectrum between baryons and mesons. We observe mid-rapidity anti-baryon to baryon ratios near unity for $\Lambda$ and $\Xi$ baryons and no dependence of the ratio on transverse momentum, indicating that our data do not yet reach the quark-jet dominated region. We show the dependence of the mean transverse momentum (\mpt) on measured charged particle multiplicity and on particle mass and infer that these trends are consistent with gluon-jet dominated particle production. The data are compared to previous measurements from CERN-SPS, ISR and FNAL experiments and to Leading Order (LO) and Next to Leading order (NLO) string fragmentation model predictions. We infer from these comparisons that the spectral shapes and particle yields from $p+p$ collisions at RHIC energies have large contributions from gluon jets rather than quark jets.

We present a new measurement of the K L -K S mass difference ( Δm ) using semileptonic decays of neutral kaons. The measurement yields Δm = (0.5274 ± 0.0029 stat. ± 0.0005 syst. ) × 10 10 ħ/s.

Production of Λ, Λ , and K s 0 has been measured for a wide range of event multiplicity in S+Pb reactions at 200 GeV/c per nucleon. The production of Λ is shown to increase with multiplicity faster than expected from a superposition of p+p collisions. The effect is seen for low multiplicity (below 100 negative particles).

A precise measurement of the strange quark forward-backward asymmetry used 3.2M multihadronic events around the Z$^0$peak collected by the DELPHI experiment from 1

Measurements of the production inp-BeO collisions of charged baryons and antibaryons with strangeness between −3 and +3 at\(\sqrt s= 21.2GeV\)x=0.48, andpT=600MeV/c are reported. The experimental results can be interpreted within the framework of a simple proton fragmentation-recombination model.

Invariant pT spectra and rapidity densities covering a large rapidity range(-0.1 < y < 3.5) are presented for $\pi^{\pm}$ and $K^{\pm}$ mesons from central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 GeV. The mid-rapidity yields of meson particles relative to their anti-particles are found to be close to unity ($\pi^-/\pi^+ \sim 1$, $K^-/K^+ \sim 0.85$) while the anti-proton to proton ratio is $\bar{p}/p \sim 0.49$. The rapidity dependence of the $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio is consistent with a small increase towards forward rapidities while the $K^-/K^+$ and $\bar{p}/p$ ratios show a steep decrease to $\sim$ 0.3 for kaons and 0.022 for protons at $y\sim 3$. It is observed that the kaon production relative to its own anti-particle as well as to pion production in wide rapidity and energy ranges shows an apparent universal behavior consistent with the baryo-chemical potential, as deduced from the $\bar{p}/p$ ratio, being the driving parameter.

We study the beam-energy and system-size dependence of \phi meson production (using the hadronic decay mode \phi -- K+K-) by comparing the new results from Cu+Cu collisions and previously reported Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented are from mid-rapidity (|y|&lt;0.5) for 0.4 &lt; pT &lt; 5 GeV/c. At a given beam energy, the transverse momentum distributions for \phi mesons are observed to be similar in yield and shape for Cu+Cu and Au+Au colliding systems with similar average numbers of participating nucleons. The \phi meson yields in nucleus-nucleus collisions, normalised by the average number of participating nucleons, are found to be enhanced relative to those from p+p collisions with a different trend compared to strange baryons. The enhancement for \phi mesons is observed to be higher at \sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations for the produced \phi(s\bar{s}) mesons clearly suggest that, at these collision energies, the source of enhancement of strange hadrons is related to the formation of a dense partonic medium in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions and cannot be alone due to canonical suppression of their production in smaller systems.

We use 772$\times 10^6$ $B \bar{B}$ meson pairs collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector to measure the branching fraction for $\bar{B} \rightarrow X_s \gamma$. Our measurement uses a sum-of-exclusives approach in which 38 of the hadronic final states with strangeness equal to $+1$, denoted by $X_s$, are reconstructed. The inclusive branching fraction for $M_{X_s}<$ 2.8 GeV/$c^2$, which corresponds to a minimum photon energy of 1.9 GeV, is measured to be ${\cal B}(\bar{B} \rightarrow X_s \gamma)=(3.51\pm0.17\pm0.33)\times10^{-4}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.

From the measurements of the inclusive production ratios between π - , K - and p̄ at Feynman x = 0 in 360 GeV/ c pp interactions and using the predictions of the Lund fragmentation model, we determine the strangeness and diquark suppression factors and find γ s , l = 0.28 ± 0.03 and γ D , l = 0.063 ± 0.011 .

We present first data on sub-threshold production of K0 s mesons and {\Lambda} hyperons in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.4 GeV. We observe an universal <Apart> scaling of hadrons containing strangeness, independent of their corresponding production thresholds. Comparing the yields, their <Apart> scaling, and the shapes of the rapidity and the pt spectra to state-of-the-art transport model (UrQMD, HSD, IQMD) predictions, we find that none of the latter can simultaneously describe all observables with reasonable \c{hi}2 values.

Associated strangeness production in the reactions γp → K + Λ and γp → K + Σ 0 was measured with the SAPHIR detector at the electron stretcher ring ELSA at Bonn. Data on total and differential cross sections and on hyperon polarizations are presented. The total cross section for Λ production shows a strong threshold enhancement whereas the Σ 0 data have a maximum at about E γ =1.45 GeV. Along with the angular decomposition of the differential cross section into polynomials, this suggests resonance production. However, the angular distributions of both hyperon polarizations vary only slightly with the photon energy. Λ and Σ 0 polarizations show opposite signs and change sign over the angular range.

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.

Measurements are presented of $K~0$ meson and $\Lambda$ baryon production in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering (DIS) in the kinematic range $10 < Q~2 < 70\,$GeV$~2$ and $10~{-4} < x < 10~{-2}$. The measurements, obtained using the H1 detector at the HERA collider, are discussed in the light of possible mechanisms for increased strangeness production at low Bjorken-$x$. Comparisons of the $x_F$ spectra, where $x_F$ is the fractional longitudinal momentum in the hadronic centre-of-mass frame, with results from electron-positron annihilation are made. The $x_F$ spectra and the $K~0$ ``seagull'' plot are compared with previous DIS results. The mean $K~0$ and $\Lambda$ multiplicities are studied as a function of the centre-of-mass energy $W$ and are observed to be consistent with a logarithmic increase with $W$ when compared with previous measurements. A comparison of the levels of strangeness production in diffractive and non-diffractive DIS is made. An upper limit of $0.9\,$nb, at the $95\%$ confidence level, is placed on the cross-section for QCD instanton induced events.

Differential cross sections of the reaction gamma d to K+ Sigma- (p) have been measured with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab using incident photons with energies between 1.1 and 3.6 GeV. This is the first complete set of strangeness photoproduction data on the neutron covering a broad angular range. At energies close to threshold and up to E_gamma ~ 1.8 GeV, the shape of the angular distribution is suggestive of the presence of s-channel production mechanisms. For E_gamma > 1.8 GeV, a clear forward peak appears and becomes more prominent as the photon energy increases, suggesting contributions from t-channel production mechanisms. These data can be used to constrain future analysis of this reaction.

Energy, charge and strangeness flow inK+p interactions at 32 and 70 GeV/c, and π+p interactions at 32 GeV/c are studied in terms of the angular variable λ=|x|/pT. The data ondQ/dλ anddE/dλ show only a weak indication of scale breaking between 32 and 70 GeV/c. For inclusive “non-diffractive”, inclusive “diffractive” and exclusive “non-diffractive” jets, the fraction of charge in any angular region ΔΩ away from the central region is found to be proportional to the energy fraction in the same interval. The data ondQ/dE versus λ are compatible with some versions of dual-sheet models and agree also with the LUND Monte-Carlo model. The data are also compared with\(v(\bar v)p\) interactions in BEBC. In exclusive channels the average ratiodQ/dS=0.78±0.04 is consistent, in the framework of fragmentation models, with a larger probability for the fragmentation of the\(\bar s\)-valence quark than theu-valence quark in theK+-meson.

The production of $D^{*\pm}$, $D^\pm$ and $D_s^\pm$ charmed mesons has been measured with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $280\,$nb$^{-1}$. The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum $3.5<p_{\rm T}(D)<100$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta(D)|<2.1$. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for $D^{*\pm}$ and $D^\pm$ production. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible $D$ cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of charged non-strange $D$ mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV were derived.

The experimental setup and detection technique of the COSY-11 installation, an internal experimental facility at the cooler synchrotron and storage ring COSY Jülich, are described. The detection system has been designed for meson production studies with full geometrical acceptance close to threshold. Preliminary results of first measurements are presented, emphasis is put on strangeness production in the reactions pp → ppK + K − and pp → pK + Λ .

Inclusive phi-meson production in neutral current deep inelastic e+p scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 45 pb^{-1}. The phi mesons were studied in the range 10<Q2<100 GeV2, where Q2 is the virtuality of the exchanged photon, and in restricted kinematic regions in the transverse momentum, p_T, pseudorapidity, eta, and the scaled momentum in the Breit frame, x_p. Monte Carlo models with the strangeness-suppression factor as determined by analyses of e+e- annihilation events overestimate the cross sections. A smaller value of the strangeness-suppression factor reduces the predicted cross sections, but fails to reproduce the shapes of the measured differential cross sections. High-momentum phi mesons in the current region of the Breit frame give the first direct evidence for the strange sea in the proton at low x.

We present results on strange and multi-strange particle production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=62.4$ GeV as measured with the STAR detector at RHIC. Mid-rapidity transverse momentum spectra and integrated yields of $K^{0}_{S}$, $\Lambda$, $\Xi$, $\Omega$ and their anti-particles are presented for different centrality classes. The particle yields and ratios follow a smooth energy dependence. Chemical freeze-out parameters, temperature, baryon chemical potential and strangeness saturation factor obtained from the particle yields are presented. Intermediate transverse momentum ($p_T$) phenomena are discussed based on the ratio of the measured baryon-to-meson spectra and nuclear modification factor. The centrality dependence of various measurements presented show a similar behavior as seen in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV.

The contradiction of the σ term of pion-nucleon scattering as deduced from the Karlsruhe-Helsinki phase shifts with the smaller value calculated by the chiral perturbation theory of QCD is well known. In an effort to clarify the discrepancy we have determined the real part of the isospin-even forward-scattering amplitude of pion-nucleon scattering at a pion energy Tπ=54.3 MeV by measurement of the elastic scattering of positive and negative pions on protons in the Coulomb-nuclear interference region. The deduced value is in agreement with the prediction of the Karlsruhe-Helsinki phase-shift analysis for that energy. The resulting large value of the σ term may be interpreted as being due to the influence of s¯s sea pairs even at large distances (small Q2) as previously suggested by the European Muon Collaboration measurement of deep-inelastic scattering of polarized muons on polarized protons.

The production of $\Xi(1321)^{-}$ and $\overline{\Xi}(1321)^{+}$ hyperons in inelastic p+p interactions is studied in a fixed target experiment at a beam momentum of 158 GeV/textitc. Double differential distributions in rapidity y and transverse momentum $p_{T}$ are obtained from a sample of 33M inelastic events. They allow to extrapolate the spectra to full phase space and to determine the mean multiplicity of both $\Xi^{-}$ and $\overline{\Xi}^{+}$. The rapidity and transverse momentum spectra are compared to transport model predictions. The $\Xi^{-}$ mean multiplicity in inelastic p+p interactions at 158~\GeVc is used to quantify the strangeness enhancement in A+A collisions at the same centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair.

Measurements of inclusive transverse-momentum spectra for KS0 mesons produced in proton-antiproton collisions at s of 630 and 1800 GeV are presented and compared with data taken at lower energies. The ratio, as a function of pT, of the cross section for KS0 to that for charged hadrons is very similar to what is observed at lower energies. At 1800 GeV, we calculate the strangeness-suppression factor λ=0.40±0.05.

The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s)=7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96 +0.26 -0.30 at Q^2=1.9 GeV^2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio sigma(W^+ + bar{c})/sigma(W^- + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s-bar{s} quark asymmetry.

The ratios of high p T charged kaon to pion production cross sections at √ s = 45 and 62 GeV are presented. The values of the K ± π ± ratios are essentially independent of both √ s and x T = 2p T √s and are compatible with a strangeness suppression factor λ = 0.55. By contrast, the K − π − values fall with x T suggesting a gluonic origin of K − . QCD calculations agrees with the measurements.

The charged multiplicity distribution is presented for K − p interactions produced in the hydrogen bubble chamber, BEBC, using an r.f. separated, tagged K − beam of 110 GeV/ c momentum. A comparison with K + p, πp and pp data at lower energies shows that the main features of the multiplicity distributions depend on energy and charge of the incident particles, but not on their strangeness. At high energies, only the energy is important.

We report a new measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in elastic electron scattering from the proton at backward scattering angles. This asymmetry is sensitive to the strange magnetic form factor of the proton as well as electroweak axial radiative corrections. The new measurement of A=-4.92 +- 0.61 +- 0.73 ppm provides a significant constraint on these quantities. The implications for the strange magnetic form factor are discussed in the context of theoretical estimates for the axial corrections.

CP violation has been observed as a time-dependent rate asymmetry between the decays ${⩈erline K}^0 ⌝ghtarrow ≪^{0} ≪^{0}$ and K0 → π0π{0}, where the neutral kaons are produced with definite and individually known strangeness in ${⋏r p}p ⌝ghtarrow{⩈erline K}^0 K^+≪^- $ or p̅p → K0 K− π+. A special technique for the data analysis has been developed. The values obtained for ϕ00 and ¦ η00¦ are in agreement with those of previous measurements of CP violation.

None

The reactions gamma p --> K+ Lambda and gamma p --> K+ Sigma0 were measured in the energy range from threshold up to a photon energy of 2.6 GeV. The data were taken with the SAPHIR detector at the electron stretcher facility, ELSA. Results on cross sections and hyperon polarizations are presented as a function of kaon production angle and photon energy. The total cross section for Lambda production rises steeply with energy close to threshold, whereas the Sigma0 cross section rises slowly to a maximum at about E_gamma = 1.45 GeV. Cross sections together with their angular decompositions into Legendre polynomials suggest contributions from resonance production for both reactions. In general, the induced polarization of Lambda has negative values in the kaon forward direction and positive values in the backward direction. The magnitude varies with energy. The polarization of Sigma0 follows a similar angular and energy dependence as that of Lambda, but with opposite sign.

The total cross section of the reaction pp->ppK+K- has been measured at excess energies Q=10 MeV and 28 MeV with the magnetic spectrometer COSY-11. The new data show a significant enhancement of the total cross section compared to pure phase space expectations or calculations within a one boson exchange model. In addition, we present invariant mass spectra of two particle subsystems. While the K+K- system is rather constant for different invariant masses, there is an enhancement in the pK- system towards lower masses which could at least be partially connected to the influence of the Lambda(1405) resonance.

The production cross sections for the Λ, Σ0, Ξ−, Σ0 (1385), Ξ0 (1530) and Ω− hyperons have been measured, both in the continuum and in direct ϒ decays. Baryon rates in direct ϒ decays are enhanced by a factor of 2.5 or more compared to the continuum. Such a large baryon enhancement cannot be explained by standard fragmentation models. The strangeness suppression for baryons and mesons turns out to be the same. A strong suppression of spin 3/2 states is observed.

A new high precision measurement of the reaction pp -> pK+Lambda at a beam momentum of 2.95 GeV/c with more than 200,000 analyzed events allows a detailed analysis of differential observables and their inter-dependencies. Correlations of the angular distributions with momenta are examined. The invariant mass distributions are compared for different regions in the Dalitz plots. The cusp structure at the N Sigma threshold is described with the Flatt\'e formalism and its variation in the Dalitz plot is analyzed.

We report the first measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in elastic electron scattering from the proton. The asymmetry depends on the neutral weak magnetic form factor of the proton which contains new information on the contribution of strange quark-antiquark pairs to the magnetic moment of the proton. We obtain the value $G_M~Z= 0.34 \pm 0.09 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.05$ n.m. at $Q~2=0.1$ (GeV/c)${}~2$.

Charged kaon production has been measured in Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.6 A GeV/c, and Au+Au collisions at 11.1 A GeV/c by Experiments 859 and 866 (the E--802 Collaboration) at the BNL AGS. Invariant transverse mass spectra and rapidity distributions for both K+ and K- are presented. The centrality dependence of rapidity-integrated kaon yields is studied. Strangeness enhancement is observed as an increase in the slope of the kaon yield with the total number of participants as well as the yield per participant. The enhancement starts with peripheral Si+Al and Si+Au collisions (relative to N+N) and appears to saturate for a moderate number of participating nucleons in Si+Au collisions. It is also observed to increase slowly with centrality in Au+Au collisions, to a level in the most central Au+Au collisions that is greater than that found in central Si+A collisions. The enhancement factor for $K^+$ production are 3.0 +-0.2(stat.) +-0.4(syst.) and 4.0 +-0.3(stat.) +-0.5(syst.), respectively, for the most central 7% Si+Au collisions and the most central 4% Au+Au collisions relative to N+N at the correponding beam energy.

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.

A strangelet search in Si+Pt and Au+Pt collisions at alternating-gradient synchrotron (AGS) energies, using a focusing spectrometer, sensitive to mass per charge of 3-14 GeV/c2 was conducted during the 1992 and 1993 heavy ion runs at the AGS. The null results thereof are presented as upper limits on the invariant production cross section, in the range of 10−5-10−4 mb c3/GeV2, and model dependent sensitivity limits in the range of 10−7-10−5 per collision. Measurements of the production cross sections of several nonstrange nuclear systems, from p to Be7 and Li8, the background of the strangelet search, are also presented.

We present the final results from Experiment 864 of a search for charged and neutral strange quark matter produced in interactions of 11.5 GeV/c per nucleon Au beams with Pt or Pb targets. Searches were made for strange quark matter with A&gt;4. Approximately 30 billion 10% most central collisions were sampled and no strangelet states with A&lt;100 were observed. We find 90% confidence level upper limits of approximately 10^{-8} per central collision for both charged and neutral strangelets. These limits are for strangelets with proper lifetimes greater than 50 ns. Also limits for H^{0}-d and pineut production are given. The above limits are compared with the predictions of various models. The yields of light nuclei from coalescence are measured and a penalty factor for the addition of one nucleon to the coalescing nucleus is determined. This is useful in gauging the significance of our upper limits and also in planning future searches for strange quark matter.

Sigma+ hyperon production was measured at the COSY-11 spectrometer via the p p --> n K+ Sigma+ reaction at excess energies of Q = 13 MeV and Q = 60 MeV. These measurements continue systematic hyperon production studies via the p p --> p K+ Lambda/Sigma0 reactions where a strong decrease of the cross section ratio close-to-threshold was observed. In order to verify models developed for the description of the Lambda and Sigma0 production we have performed the measurement on the Sigma+ hyperon and found unexpectedly that the total cross section is by more than one order of magnitude larger than predicted by all anticipated models. After the reconstruction of the kaon and neutron four momenta, the Sigma+ is identified via the missing mass technique. Details of the method and the measurement will be given and discussed in view of theoretical models.

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.