Strangeness production in hot dense matter

Abstract

Medium effects due to collective potentials and reduced production threshold on strange particle production in heavy ion collisions are reviewed. In particular, it will be shown that medium effects provide satisfactory explanations for the observed enhancement of kaon and antikaon yields from SIS experiments. Also the possibility of studying the kaon potential in dense matter via the kaon flow is described. At AGS energies, medium effects are found to be relevant for the enhanced K+/π+ ratio, the difference in the slope parameters of the K+ and K− transverse kinetic energy spectra, and the enhanced low transverse momentum kaons observed in preliminary experimental data. Similarly, the enhanced phi meson and antilambda production in CERN experiments can also be explained by the medium effects. Finally, new signatures, based on medium effects in hot matter, for the quark‐gluon plasma that is expected to be formed at RHIC are discussed.