Kaon and Φ\Phi production vs Participants in Nuclear Collisions

Data on kaon and $\Phi$ production in nuclear collisions as a function of centrality are analysed both at AGS and SPS energy range. We compare the results of several experiments, looking for common trend in `participant scaling' of production yields. We find a smooth description of scaled kaon and $\Phi$ yields as a function of participant density. We also show a participant density dependence of kaons and $\Phi$ produced in the forward hemisphere for proton-nucleus collisions.Comment: Proceedings of the International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter, 20-25 July 2000, Berkeley, CA. To appear in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Reply to Comment of Gazdzicki and Heinz on Strangeness Enhancement in p+Ap+A and S+AS+A

The Comment of Gazdzicki and Heinz is flawed because their assumed baryon stopping power in $pA$ is inconsistent with data and because they ignored half the analysis based on the VENUS model. The Comment continues the misleading presentation of strangeness enhancement by focusing on ratios of integrated yields. Those ratios discard essential experimental information on the rapidity dependence of produced $\Lambda$ and obscure discrepancies between different data sets. Our conclusion remains that the NA35 minimum bias data on $p+S\rightarrow\Lambda +X$ indicate an anomalous enhancement of central rapidity strangeness in few nucleon reactions that points to non-equilibrium dynamics as responsible for strangeness enhancement in nuclear reactions.Comment: revtex file, 6 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Strangeness Enhancement in p+Ap+A and S+AS+A Interactions at SPS Energies

The systematics of strangeness enhancement is calculated using the HIJING and VENUS models and compared to recent data on $\,pp\,$, $\,pA\,$ and $\,AA\,$ collisions at CERN/SPS energies ($200A\,\, GeV\,$). The HIJING model is used to perform a {\em linear} extrapolation from $pp$ to $AA$. VENUS is used to estimate the effects of final state cascading and possible non-conventional production mechanisms. This comparison shows that the large enhancement of strangeness observed in $S+Au$ collisions, interpreted previously as possible evidence for quark-gluon plasma formation, has its origins in non-equilibrium dynamics of few nucleon systems. % Strangeness enhancement %is therefore traced back to the change in the production dynamics %from $pp$ to minimum bias $pS$ and central $SS$ collisions. A factor of two enhancement of $\Lambda^{0}$ at mid-rapidity is indicated by recent $pS$ data, where on the average {\em one} projectile nucleon interacts with only {\em two} target nucleons. There appears to be another factor of two enhancement in the light ion reaction $SS$ relative to $pS$, when on the average only two projectile nucleons interact with two target ones.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures in uuencoded postscript fil

Charged Particle Production in Proton-, Deuteron-, Oxygen- and Sulphur-Nucleus Collisions at 200 GeV per Nucleon

The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton-nucleus and deuteron-gold interactions, as well as central oxygen-gold and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus-nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with `temperatures' between 145 +- 11 MeV (p+S interactions) and 244 +- 43 MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions.Comment: 47 pages, submitted to Z. Phys.

Wnt5a induces ROR1 to associate with 14-3-3ζ for enhanced chemotaxis and proliferation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells.

Wnt5a can activate Rho GTPases in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells by inducing the recruitment of ARHGEF2 to ROR1. Mass spectrometry on immune precipitates of Wnt5a-activated ROR1 identified 14-3-3ζ, which was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. The capacity of Wnt5a to induce ROR1 to complex with 14-3-3ζ could be blocked in CLL cells by treatment with cirmtuzumab, a humanized mAb targeting ROR1. Silencing 14-3-3ζ via small interfering RNA impaired the capacity of Wnt5a to: (1) induce recruitment of ARHGEF2 to ROR1, (2) enhance in vitro exchange activity of ARHGEF2 and (3) induce activation of RhoA and Rac1 in CLL cells. Furthermore, CRISPR/Cas9 deletion of 14-3-3ζ in ROR1-negative CLL cell-line MEC1, and in MEC1 cells transfected to express ROR1 (MEC1-ROR1), demonstrated that 14-3-3ζ was necessary for the growth/engraftment advantage of MEC1-ROR1 over MEC1 cells. We identified a binding motif (RSPS857SAS) in ROR1 for 14-3-3ζ. Site-directed mutagenesis of ROR1 demonstrated that serine-857 was required for the recruitment of 14-3-3ζ and ARHGEF2 to ROR1, and activation of RhoA and Rac1. Collectively, this study reveals that 14-3-3ζ plays a critical role in Wnt5a/ROR1 signaling, leading to enhanced CLL migration and proliferation

Measurement of event-by-event transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations using strongly intensive measures Δ[PT,N]\Delta[P_T, N] and Σ[PT,N]\Sigma[P_T, N] in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron

Results from the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS are presented on event-by-event transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations of charged particles, produced at forward rapidities in central Pb+Pb interactions at beam momenta 20$A$, 30$A$, 40$A$, 80$A$, and 158$A$ GeV/c, as well as in systems of different size ($p+p$, C+C, Si+Si, and Pb+Pb) at 158$A$ GeV/c. This publication extends the previous NA49 measurements of the strongly intensive measure $\Phi_{p_T}$ by a study of the recently proposed strongly intensive measures of fluctuations $\Delta[P_T, N]$ and $\Sigma[P_T, N]$. In the explored kinematic region transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations show no significant energy dependence in the SPS energy range. However, a remarkable system size dependence is observed for both $\Delta[P_T, N]$ and $\Sigma[P_T, N]$, with the largest values measured in peripheral Pb+Pb interactions. The results are compared with NA61/SHINE measurements in $p+p$ collisions, as well as with predictions of the UrQMD and EPOS models.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, to be submitted to PR

Antideuteron and deuteron production in mid-central Pb+Pb collisions at 158AA GeV

Production of deuterons and antideuterons was studied by the NA49 experiment in the 23.5% most central Pb+Pb collisions at the top SPS energy of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=17.3 GeV. Invariant yields for $\bar{d}$ and $d$ were measured as a function of centrality in the center-of-mass rapidity range $-1.2<y<-0.6$. Results for $\bar{d}(d)$ together with previously published $\bar{p}(p)$ measurements are discussed in the context of the coalescence model. The coalescence parameters $B_2$ were deduced as a function of transverse momentum $p_t$ and collision centrality.Comment: 9 figure

System-size and centrality dependence of charged kaon and pion production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at 40A GeV and158A GeV beam energy

Measurements of charged pion and kaon production are presented in centrality selected Pb+Pb collisions at 40A GeV and 158A GeV beam energy as well as in semi-central C+C and Si+Si interactions at 40A GeV. Transverse mass spectra, rapidity spectra and total yields are determined as a function of centrality. The system-size and centrality dependence of relative strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at 40A GeV and 158A GeV beam energy are derived from the data presented here and published data for C+C and Si+Si collisions at 158A GeV beam energy. At both energies a steep increase with centrality is observed for small systems followed by a weak rise or even saturation for higher centralities. This behavior is compared to calculations using transport models (UrQMD and HSD), a percolation model and the core-corona approach.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables, typo table II correcte

Experimental Study of the Shortest Reset Word of Random Automata

In this paper we describe an approach to finding the shortest reset word of a finite synchronizing automaton by using a SAT solver. We use this approach to perform an experimental study of the length of the shortest reset word of a finite synchronizing automaton. The largest automata we considered had 100 states. The results of the experiments allow us to formulate a hypothesis that the length of the shortest reset word of a random finite automaton with $n$ states and 2 input letters with high probability is sublinear with respect to $n$ and can be estimated as $1.95 n^{0.55}.

Event-by-Event Fluctuations of Particle Ratios in Central Pb+Pb Collisions at 20 to 158 AGeV

In the vicinity of the QCD phase transition, critical fluctuations have been predicted to lead to non-statistical fluctuations of particle ratios, depending on the nature of the phase transition. Recent results of the NA49 energy scan program show a sharp maximum of the ratio of K+ to Pi+ yields in central Pb+Pb collisions at beam energies of 20-30 AGeV. This observation has been interpreted as an indication of a phase transition at low SPS energies. We present first results on event-by-event fluctuations of the kaon to pion and proton to pion ratios at beam energies close to this maximum.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Quark Matter 2004 proceeding