Role of phi decays for K- yields in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This study uses a transport model to analyze how phi meson decays influence K- yields in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, confirming the significance of strangeness-exchange channels and aligning with recent experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a detailed transport model analysis of phi decays' role in K- production, supporting the importance of strangeness-exchange channels in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Phi decays have a subleading role in K- yields.

Results agree with HADES and FOPI experimental data.

Strangeness-exchange channels are crucial for K- production.

Abstract

The production of strange mesons in collisions of Ar+KCl at a kinetic beam energy of 1.756 AGeV is studied within a transport model of Boltzmann-\"Uhling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) type. In particular, $\phi, K^+$ and $K^-$ yields and spectra are compared to the data mesured recently by the HADES collaboration and the $\phi$ yield measured previously by the FOPI collaboration. Our results are in agreement with these data thus presenting an interpretation of the subleading role of $\phi$ decays into $K^-$'s and confirming the importance of the strangeness-exchange channels for $K^-$ production.