Study of strangeness enhancement in lead-lead collisions at the CERN SPS

Abstract

A review of the latest results from the WA97 experiment on the strange particle production in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions is presented. Transverse mass spectra and yields of K/sub S//sup 0/, Lambda , Xi , Omega and h/sup -/ (negatively charged particles) have been measured at central rapidity. Yields are studied as a function of the number of nucleons participating in the collision N/sub part/. From p-Pb to Pb-Pb collisions the particle yields per participant increase substantially. The enhancement is more pronounced for multistrange particles and exceeds an order of magnitude for Omega. (28 refs)