Centrality dependence of K+ produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

NA52 collaboration; R. Arsenescu; H. P. Beck; K. Borer; S. Kabana; R. Klingenberg; G. Lehmann; R. Mommsen; U. Moser; K. Pretzl; J. Schacher; R. Spiwoks; M. Weber; K. Elsener; K. D. Lohmann; C. Baglin; A. Bussiere; J. P. Guillaud; T. Lindén; J. Tuominiemi; Ph. Gorodetzky

arXiv · hep-ex/0010045

Centrality dependence of K+ produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

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Abstract

The NA52 collaboration searches for a discontinuous behaviour of charged kaons produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV as a function of the impact parameter, which could reveal a hadron to quark-gluon plasma (QGP) phase transition. The K+ yield is found to grow proportional to the number of participating ('wounded') nucleons N, above N=100. Previous NA52 data agree with the above finding and show a discontinuous behaviour in the kaon centrality dependence near N=100, marking the onset of strangeness enhancement -over e.g. p+A data at the same \sqrt{s}- in a chemically equilibrated phase.

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NA52 collaboration, R. Arsenescu, H. P. Beck, K. Borer, S. Kabana, R. Klingenberg, G. Lehmann, R. Mommsen, U. Moser, K. Pretzl, J. Schacher, R. Spiwoks, M. Weber, K. Elsener, K. D. Lohmann, C. Baglin, A. Bussiere, J. P. Guillaud, T. Lindén, J. Tuominiemi, Ph. Gorodetzky. 2000-10-18. Centrality dependence of K+ produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon. https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/0010045

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