On the chemical equilibration of strangeness-exchange reactions in heavy-ion collisions

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2005

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Physics Letters B

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University of Cape Town

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Abstract
The strangeness-exchange reaction π + Y ↔ K− + N is shown to be the dynamical origin of chemical saturation and equilibration for K− production in heavy-ion collisions up to beam energies of 10 AGeV. The hyperons occurring in this process are produced in association with K+ in baryon–baryon and meson–baryon interactions. This connection is demonstrated by the ratio of K−/K+ which does not vary with centrality and shows a linear correlation with the yield of pions per participant. At incident energies above AGS this correlation no longer holds due to the change in the production mechanism of kaons.
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