Antiproton production inp+A andd+A reactions at subthreshold energies

The production of antiprotons in proton-nucleus and deuteron-nucleus collisions is analyzed with respect to one-step nucleon-nucleon (NN → NNp¯ p) and secondary Δ-nucleon (ΔN → NNN¯ p) production channels within a phase-space model incorporating the selfenergies of the baryons. It is found that contrary to nucleus-nucleus collisions the Δ induced reaction channels are of minor importance except at very low bombarding energies. The data from KEK are approximately reproduced when accounting for the internal momentum distribution of the deuteron which provides a natural explanation for the large enhancement of the ¯p cross section ind+A as compared top+A.