Bochum 1998 – scientific programme

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HK: Hadronen und Kerne

HK 2: Heavy Ion Reactions I, Ultrarelativistic Energies

HK 2.9: Talk

Monday, March 16, 1998, 16:15–16:30, P

φ production in 158 GeV/u Pb+Pb Collisions — •V. Friese, M. Cristinziani, F. Eckhardt, T. Henkel, C. Struck, and F. Pühlhofer — Fachbereich Physik der Universität Marburg^* and the NA49 Collaboration

Data on φ-meson production in central Pb+Pb-collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon were obtained by the NA49 experiment at the CERN-SPS. The φ meson was observed via the hadronic decay into K⁺ K⁻. Combining the dE/dx information from the large-volume TPCs and the time-of-flight measurement allows a clean kaon identification at midrapidity up to momenta of 8 GeV/c.
The K⁺K⁻ invariant mass spectrum was obtained from 330,000 events. After subtraction of the combinatorial background, calculated with the usual event mixing method, a clear φ signal is observed. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to extract information on the midrapidity φ yield. Comparison with published pp-data shows that the φ/π ratio increases by a factor of roughly 2.3 between pp and PbPb collisions.
^* supported by BMBF and GSI