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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 13: Physik mit schweren Ionen

HK 13.3: Talk

Monday, March 10, 2008, 17:15–17:30, 2E

Neutral and charged K meson reconstruction in central Pb+Au collisions at 158 A GeV in CERES experiment — •Matus Kalisky — GSI, Darmstadt, Deutschland

Over the last 20 years strangeness became one of the main probes in the relativistic heavy ion collisions [1]. The enhancement of the strange particle production and, particularly, the strongly nonmonotonic dependence of the K⁺/π⁺ ratio on the collision energy [2] attracted a lot of attention. In this talk we present results of a measurement of charged and neutral K meson production in central Pb+Au collisions at E_lab = 158 AGeV by the CERES collaboration. Kaons were reconstructed via their decays into charged pions: K_S⁰ → π⁺ π⁻, K⁺ → π⁺ π⁺ π⁻, K⁻ → π⁺ π⁻ π⁻. While the K⁰ analysis in the charged pion decay channel is an established technique it is for the first time in collisions of heavy nuclei (with the exception of the pioneering work of NA35 [3]) that it is being applied for charged kaons. The beam energy dependence of kaon production is a much discussed issue especially at SPS energies and an independent measurement with completely different systematics is therefore important. The charged and neutral kaon yields are compared to each other, to other experiments, and to theoretical predictions.

[1] L. Sandor, J.Phys, G32, (2006) 127-134
S. Afanasiev and others Phys. Rev., C66, (2002) 054902
T. Alber et al., NA35 Collaboration, Z. Phys. C64, (1994), 195-207