Kaon production in S+nucleus and Pb+Pb collisions at CERN SPS

Abstract

Charged and neutral kaon production in S-nucleus and Pb-Pb collisions has been measured at CERN in the NA35 and NA49 experiments, close to mid-rapidity. The production ofK± in S+S, Ag, Au at 200 GeV/nucleon was measured via their one-prong (kink) topology inside a Time Projection Chamber (TPC). The resulting charged kaon yields are in agreement with other measurements done in the same experiment. TheK+/K− ratio was found to be 1.30±0.15 in central S+Au interactions. The production ofKS0 in Pb+Pb collisions was measured using the NA49’s large (Main) TPCs outside the magnetic field. The resulting yields are compatible with other measurements performed in the same experiment, within the quoted systematic errors. The preliminary rapidity distribution in Pb+Pb scales with the number of participants if compared to S+S collisions. From this we conclude that no further strangeness enhancement (relative to nucleon-nucleon collisions) is observed in going from S+S to Pb+Pb.