The Strange Quark-Gluon Plasma

Abstract

Strangeness flavor has turned out to be a very effective diagnostic tool of relativistic heavy ion physics. The absolute yield provides information about conditions arising in first instants of the interaction. Strange hadrons are abundant allowing a precise study of the chemical freeze-out conditions in the dense matter fireball. The thermal and chemical freeze-out universality seen in strange hadrons confirms sudden hadronization as the breakup mechanism. A plausible cause of sudden fireball breakup is the mechanical instability arising when a quark-gluon plasma phase supercools deeply in its adiabatic expansion. Applying these ideas, we interpret CERN-SPS and the first results on hadronic particle ratios obtained at RHI

36 pages, including 16 figures; Presented in October 2000 at the 6th International Workshop on Relativistic Aspects of Nuclear Physics Tabatinga, Sao Paulo, Brazil