Hadron production in nuclear collisions from the NA49 experiment at 158 a A

Abstract

With its large acceptance and particle identification coverage the NA49 experiment (Fig. 1) can study hadron production in a wide range of high energy reactions [1]. Originally aimed at examining central Pb+Pb collisions for signatures of quark-gluon plasma formation, the scope of the experiment has been enhanced with a systematic study of impact parameter and projectile size dependence, as well as the inclusion of the more elementary p+p and p+A interactions. The question is: are predicted signals of the quark-gluon plasma observed and are there discontinuities which would support the concept of hadronic phase transition?