Strangeness production in nuclear interactions at 200 A GeV and the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions

Data on mean numbers of , , K's and on the total number of pairs of strange valence quarks in final state hadrons in hadronic and nuclear collisions at CERN-SPS energies are studied as a function of the mean number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. Results give indications of an almost linear dependence over most of the region of . This in turn points out to strangeness being produced mostly in the central rapidity region of nucleon-nucleon collisions by a mechanism similar to a hard or semi-hard process. The available data are extrapolated to Pb+Pb interactions by two simple models, leading to . Observations exceeding these values of would give evidence of the onset of a new dynamical regime in Pb+Pb interactions. Received: 15 September 1997 / Revised version: 9 December 1997 / Published online: 26 February 1998     

Quark-gluon plasma in nuclear collisions at 200 GeV/A

Assuming complete inelasticity of nuclear collisions at 200 GeV/A we consider the properties of the arising high temperature and density nuclear matter fireball. Pion multiplicity and particle rapidity distribution can be estimated and correlated with other properties of the fireball. Consistency of the fireball reaction picture with the quark-gluon plasma structure is shown.     

Strangeness in Pb---Pb collisions at 158 A GeV

We study relative strange particle abundances measured in Pb---Pb 158 A GeV interactions. The thermal and chemical source parameters of these particles are determined under reaction scenario hypothesis invoking confined and deconfined hadronic matter.     

Strange particle production in nuclear collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon

Multiplicities and spectra of strange particles ( andK ^– produced in central³²S+S,³²S+Ag and³²S+Au collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon are presented and compared with data on strange particle production in protonnucleus and nucleon-nucleon interactions. It is shown that strangeness production in³²S+Ag collisions is enhanced by a factor of two, similar to that found previously in central³²S+S collisions.     

Photon production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at 200 GeV/u

A calculation of sources of inclusive photons in ultrarelativistic O-W and Pb-Pb collisions at 200 GeV/u is presented. The production of thermal photons in a quark-gluon plasma, a deconfined state of nuclear matter at high energy density, is addressed. In events with a large amount of energy deposited in the target the thermal contribution to the inclusive spectrum is found to be ～5%, quadratically increasing with particle multiplicity, but only weakly dependent on the size of the projectile nucleus. These photons are predominantly produced in a coexistence phase of plasma and hadronic matter. Hadronic bremsstrahlung is investigated including the spatial and temporal coherence due to the large space-time extension of heavy-ion systems. For small photon momenta there is a coherent signal in the fragmentation regions proportional to the squared number of participant protons.     

Two-proton correlations in the target fragmentation region of nuclear collisions at 200A GeV

Correlations between protons are studied in the target fragmentation region of reactions of protons and¹⁶O with C, Cu, Ag, Au and of³²S with Al and Au at 200A GeV. The emitted protons were measured with the Plastic Ball detector in the WA80 experiment at the CERN SPS. The comparison of the correlation function with calculations, assuming a spherical, gaussian shaped source with a lifetime τ=0 fm/c, allows the extraction of radius parameters. The values are very close to those expected from the geometry of the target nuclei and increase with the target mass as αA _Target ^1/3 . Even in proton induced reactions the whole target nucleus is involved. The dependence of the radii on centrality, polar angleθ _lab, and energy, and their relation to measured proton yields are presented.     

First results from the hybrid emulsion experiment on16O-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV/N

First data from the HELIOS hybrid experiment are presented. The set-up and experimental procedure are described, and a study of medium multiplicity events and of high transverse energy, high multiplicity events is reported. A study of unbiased samples of¹⁶O-emulsion interactions, showing in particular the importance of electromagnetic dissociation of the projectile, is presented.     

Multiplicity distributions in proton-nucleus collisions at 67 and 200 GeV

New data, concerning multiplicities in collisions of 67 and 200 GeV protons in emulsions are presented. Various parameters of multiplicity distributions in collisions of protons with nuclei of photographic emulsion at primary energies between a few and about 1000 GeV are compared with p-p collisions.     

Strangeness production in p+W and S+W Interactions at 200 A GeV/c

Strange and multistrange baryon and antibaryon production is a useful probe into the dynamics of the hot hadronic matter created in central heavy ion interactions. Relative production yields and transverse mass spectra are presented and compared for pW and SW interactions.     

Search for direct photons from S-Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon

The CERES experiment has measured inclusive photon production in S-Au collisions of 200 GeV/nucleon at the CERN SPS. No evidence for direct emission of photons was found. For the kinematic region 2.1<y<2.65 and 0.4 GeV/c<p⊥<2.0 GeV/c the yield andp⊥-dependence of the observed photons are well reproduced by hadron decays. Furthermore, their production rate is found to be proportional to the charged particle density. The systematic errors comparing the measured and expected photon yield result in an upper limit of 14% for the emission of direct photons in central S-Au collisions. For a photon source with a yield depending quadratically on the charged particle density the limit can be reduced to 7%.     

Strangeness enhancement and energy dependence in heavy ion collisions

The canonical statistical model analysis of strange and multistrange hadron production in central A–A relative to p–p/p–A collisions is presented over the energy range from GeV up to GeV. It is shown that the relative enhancement of strange particle yields from p–p/p–A to A–A collisions substantially increases with decreasing collision energy. It is largest at GeV, where the enhancement of and is of the order of 100, 20 and 3, respectively. In terms of the model these results are due to the canonical suppression of particle thermal phase space at lower energies, which increases with the strangeness content of the particle and with decreasing size of the collision fireball. The comparison of the model with existing data on the energy dependence of the kaon/pion ratio is also discussed. Received: 25 October 2001 / Published online: 5 July 2002     

Search for direct photons from S-Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon

The CERES experiment has measured inclusive photon production in S-Au collisions of 200 GeV/nucleon at the CERN SPS. No evidence for direct emission of photons was found. For the kinematic region 2.1<y<2.65 and 0.4 GeV/c<p??<2.0 GeV/c the yield andp??-dependence of the observed photons are well reproduced by hadron decays. Furthermore, their production rate is found to be proportional to the charged particle density. The systematic errors comparing the measured and expected photon yield result in an upper limit of 14% for the emission of direct photons in central S-Au collisions. For a photon source with a yield depending quadratically on the charged particle density the limit can be reduced to 7%.     

Production of charged kaons in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon

Production of charged kaons in proton-sulphur, proton-gold, sulphur-sulphur and oxygen-gold collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon has been studied in the NA35 Streamer Chamber experiment. Rapidity and transverse mass distributions as well as mean multiplicities were obtained. The results are compared with nucleon-nucleon data and with model predictions.Deceased     

Intermittency and fractals in nuclear collisions at 1.52 A GeV

The techniques of scaled factorial moments and multifractals have been employed to study the dynamical fluctuations of the produced singly charged particles in collisions of⁸⁴Kr ions at 1.52 A GeV in nuclear emulsion. The power law behaviors are observed in the data. The generalized dimensions are determined by using the methods of intermittency and multifractals.     

200A GeV硫打原子核反应中奇异压低的约化和奇异反重子产生

用事件产生器LUCIAE分析了200AGeV硫打原子核反应中p和Λ产额､横动量分布以及Λ/p比值的NA35数据,结果表明:NA35数据反映了极端相对论性核一核碰撞中青异压低与同能量的核子-核子碰撞相比有约化的现象;但是核-核碰撞中Λ/p比值趋向1,并不必然意味着夸克的味对称性.     

System-size dependence of strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at squareroot[sNN]=17.3 GeV

Emission of pi+/-, K+/-, phi, and Lambda was measured in near-central C+C and Si+Si collisions at 158 AGeV beam energy. Together with earlier data for p+p, S+S, and Pb+Pb, the system-size dependence of relative strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions is obtained. Its fast rise and the saturation observed at about 60 participating nucleons can be understood as the onset of the formation of coherent systems of increasing size.     

Multiplicity distributions of produced particles in proton-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV

We analyse data for multiplicity distributions of negative particles which are produced inpp, pAr andpXe collisions, at 200 GeV. We compare two hypotheses with the data: universal (KNO) scaling and the model of independent sources. The data favour the second model.