Strangeness Enhancement in p-A Collisions: Consequences for the Interpretation of Strangeness Production in A-A Collisions

Cole, B. A.; Yang, X. H.; Cianciolo, V.; Frawley, A.; Hartouni, E. P.; Hiejima, H.; Lebedev, A.; Maeda, N.; Mioduszewski, S.; Read, K.; Rosati, M.; Soltz, R. A.; Sorensen, S.; Thomas, J. H.; Torun, Y.; Winter, D.; Zajc, W. A.

Strangeness Enhancement in p-A Collisions: Consequences for the Interpretation of Strangeness Production in A-A Collisions

Authors

Description

Published measurements of semi-inclusive Lambda production in p-Au collisions at the AGS are used to estimate the yields of singly strange hadrons in nucleus-nucleus A-A collisions. Results of a described extrapolation technique are shown and compared to measurements of K+ production in Si-Al, Si-Au, and Au-Au collisions at the AGS and net Lambda production in Su-Su, S-Ag, Pb-Pb, and inclusive p-A collisions at the SPS. The extrapolations can account for more than 75% of the measured strange particle yields in all of the studied systems except for very central Au-Au collisions at the AGS where RQMD comparisons suggest large re-scattering contributions.
9 pages, 4 figures