2002/04/03 by Reinhard Stock, Stock, Reinhard
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/0204032
arxiv created 2002/04/03 · openalex publication_date 2002/04/03 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
With new data available from the SPS, at 40 and 80 GeV/A, I review the systematics of bulk hadron multiplicities, with prime focus on strangeness production. The classical concept of strangeness enhancement in central AA collisions is reviewed, in view of the statistical hadronization model which suggests to understand strangeness enhancement to arise chiefly in the transition from the canonical to the grand canonical version of that model. I. e. enhancement results from the fading away of canonical suppression. The model also captures the striking strangeness maximum observed in the vicinity of √(s) ≈ 8 GeV. A puzzle remains in the understanding of apparent grand canonical order at the lower SPS, and at AGS energies.