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.

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