Features of carbon-carbon interactions at a momentum of 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon that are accompanied by the production of Λ hyperons and K 0S mesons versus the degree of nuclei collision centrality

Abstract

Experiemntal data obtained by using the 2-m propane bubble chamber of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna) are used to study the effect collision centrality on the spectra of Λ hyperons and KS0 mesons produced in carbon-carbon interactions at 4.2 A GeV/c. The multiplicity of participant protons having momenta in excess of 300 MeV/c is taken to be a measure of collision centrality. The features of pions and protons accompanying strange-particle production are also presented. The experimental data in question are compared with the prediction of a modified version of the FRITIOF model. It is shown that strange particles are predominantly produced in central and semicentral collisions. The average kinematical features of KS0 mesons are found to be indepedent of collision centrality. At the same time, the average transverse momentum of Λ hyperons and the average value of their emission angle increase slowly with increasing degree of collision centrality. The anisotropy of the angular distributions of both Λ hypersons and KS/0 mesons in the c.m. frame of nucleon-nucleon collisions decreases with increasing collision centrality. The average transverse momentum of KS0 mesons is approximately 1.6 times higher than the average transverse momentum of π− mesons.