Energy Dependence of Strange Particle Yields from a QGP-Fireball

Abstract

We explore, as function of the collision energy and stopping in relativistic nuclear collisions, the production yields of strange particles, in particular strange antibaryons,assuming formation of a deconfined thermal QGP-fireball which undergoes a sudden hadronisation. The non-equilibrium freeze-out conditions are established and strange antibaryon excitation functions are shown to have characteristic features that should allow to discriminate between the QGP hypothesis and other reaction scenarios.

Detailed account of work published and recorded as hep-ph/9506469 / Phys. Lett. B390 (1997) 363. 39 pages, LaTeX, 14 postscript figures