Transition from Baryon- to Meson-Dominated Freeze Out -- Early Decoupling around 30 A GeV?

The recently discovered sharp peak in the excitation function of the K+/pi+ ratio around 30 A GeV in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is discussed in the framework of the Statistical Model. In this model, the freeze-out of an ideal hadron gas changes from a situation where baryons dominate to one with mainly mesons. This transition occurs at a temperature T = 140 MeV and baryon chemical potential mu(B) = 410 MeV corresponding to an energy of sqrt(s) = 8.2 GeV. The calculated maximum in the K+/pi+ ratio is, however, much less pronounced than the one observed by the NA49 Collaboration. The smooth increase of the K-/pi- ratio with incident energy and the shape of the excitation functions of the Lambda/pi+, Xi-/pi+ and Omega/pi ratios all exhibiting maxima at different incident energies, is consistent with the presently available experimental data. The measured K+/pi+ ratio exceeds the calculated one just at the incident energy when the freeze-out condition is changing. We speculate that at this point freeze-out might occur in a modified way. We discuss a scenario of an early freeze-out which indeed increases K+/pi+ ratio while most other particle ratios remain essentially unchanged. Such an early freeze-out is supported by results from HBT studies.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, SQM2006 conference, Los Angeles, March 200

Centrality dependence of thermal parameters in heavy-ion collisions at SPS and RHIC

We analyze the centrality dependence of thermal parameters describing hadron multiplicities, hadron spectra and dilepton spectra in heavy-ion collisions at SPS and RHIC energies.Comment: contribution to the Int. Workshop XXX on Gross Properties of Nuclei and Nuclear Excitations: Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions, Hirschegg, Jan. 13 - 19, 200

Strangeness Saturation: Dependence on System-Size, Centrality and Energy

The dependence of the strangeness saturation factor on the system size, centrality and energy is studied in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.Comment: contribution for Proc. 19th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Breckenridge, February 8-15, 200

Statistical Model Predictions for Pb-Pb Collisions at LHC

The systematics of Statistical Model parameters extracted from heavy-ion collisions at lower energies are exploited to extrapolate in the LHC regime. Predictions of various particle ratios are presented and particle production in central Pb-Pb collisions at LHC is discussed in the context of the Statistical Model. The sensitivity of several ratios on the temperature and the baryon chemical potential is studied in detail, and some of them, which are particularly appropriate to determine the chemical freeze-out point experimentally, are indicated. The impact of feed-down contributions from resonances, especially to light hadrons, is illustrated.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, SQM 2006 conference proceedings, accepted for publication in J. Phys.

Statistical Model Predictions for p+p and Pb+Pb Collisions at LHC

Particle production in p+p and central Pb+Pb collisions at LHC is discussed in the context of the statistical thermal model. For heavy-ion collisions, predictions of various particle ratios are presented. The sensitivity of several ratios on the temperature and the baryon chemical potential is studied in detail, and some of them, which are particularly appropriate to determine the chemical freeze-out point experimentally, are indicated. Considering elementary interactions on the other hand, we focus on strangeness production and its possible suppression. Extrapolating the thermal parameters to LHC energy, we present predictions of the statistical model for particle yields in p+p collisions. We quantify the strangeness suppression by the correlation volume parameter and discuss its influence on particle production. We propose observables that can provide deeper insight into the mechanism of strangeness production and suppression at LHC.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, conference contribution to "International school of nuclear physics", Erice, Sicily, 16 - 24 September 2008; Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, 2009, in pres