Quest for deconfined quark phase: A new avenue

Abstract

Stability of droplets of $ud$ matter, {\it viz} udilets, is studied using non-relativistic and relativistic bag models. It is found that there is a strong possibility for forming hypercharged metastable udilets with charge fraction $Z/A \ge 1$ in semicentral relativistic heavy ion collisions. It is then speculated that protons hadronised from these hypercharged udilets may be contributing towards the directed sideward flow observed recently in experiment. This exotic state with large charge to mass ratio presents an unique possibility for the spontaneous emission of positrons due to the `sparking' of the vacuum.

16 pages, PostScript files for the four figures available on request