On the chemical equilibration of strangeness-exchange reaction in heavy-ion collisions
arXiv:hep-ph/0406108 · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2004.09.078
Abstract
The strangeness-exchange reaction pi + Y -> K- + N is shown to be the dynamical origin of chemical equilibration for K- production in heavy-ion collisions up to beam energies of 10 A GeV. The hyperons occurring in this process are produced associately with K+ in baryon-baryon and meson-baryon interactions. This connection is demonstrated by the ratio 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.
9 pages, 4 figures