Statistical bootstrap analysis of S + Ag interaction at 200 AGeV: Evidence of a phase beyond the hadronic one?

A generalized strangeness-including statistical bootstrap model (SSBM) is constructed so as to include independent fugacities for up and down quarks. Such an extension is crucial for the confrontation of multiparticle data emerging from heavy ion collisions, wherein isospin symmetry is not satisfied. Two constraints, in addition to the presence of a critical surface which sets the boundaries of the hadronic world, enter the extended model. An analysis pertaining to produced particle multiplicities and ratios is performed for the S + Ag interaction at 200 GeV/nucleon. The resulting evaluation, concerning the location of the source of the produced system, is slightly in favor of the source being outside the hadronic domain. Received: 22 December 1999 / Published online: 6 April 2000