Strangeness Production in Microscopic Transport Models

Abstract

Strangeness production in microscopic transport models for relativistic heavy-ion collisions from SIS to RHIC is reviewed: after a brief introduction into elementary strangeness production processes, the main emphasis is put on strangeness as indicator of the nuclear equation of state, the excitation function of the $K^{+}/{\pi }^{+}$ ratio and strangeness as a deconfinement indicator.

Comments: 10 pages, 13 figures, invited talk at SQM2001, to appear in J. Phys. G