Strangeness Production as a Diagnostic Tool for Understanding Heavy Ion Reactions

Abstract

Strangeness production has long been proposed as a diagnostic tool for understanding the dynamics of relativistic heavy ion collisions. In this presentation we review the traditional picture of strangeness enhancement as a signature for quark-gluon plasma formation. We then review, in order, some experimental data on strange particle production in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$, $pp$, $p\bar{p}$, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. This is not a comprehensive review, but rather an emphasis of a few significant points. Any clear interpretation of strange particle yields measured in heavy ion reactions is impossible without a physical understanding of the production mechanisms in elementary particle collisions.

6 pages, 2 figures (in eps) talk given at XXXI International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, Sep. 1-7, 2001, Datong China URL http://ismd31.ccnu.edu.cn/