Production and rescattering of strange baryons at SPS energies in a transport model with hadron potentials

TL;DR

This study uses an enhanced transport model with hadron potentials to accurately simulate strange baryon production and rescattering in heavy ion collisions at SPS energies, highlighting the importance of potentials and rescattering.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field potential version of UrQMD to better explain strange baryon yields and distributions in heavy ion collisions at SPS energies.

Findings

The model reproduces experimental transverse mass and rapidity distributions of $oldsymbol{ ext{Lambda}}$ and $oldsymbol{ ext{anti-Lambda}}$.

Both production mechanisms and rescattering significantly influence strange baryon yields.

Inclusion of hadron potentials improves the quantitative agreement with experimental data.

Abstract

A mean-field potential version of the Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) model is used to investigate the production of strange baryons, especially the $\Lambda$s and $\overline{\Lambda}$s, from heavy ion collisions at SPS energies. It is found that, with the consideration of both formed and pre-formed hadron potentials in UrQMD, the transverse mass and longitudinal rapidity distributions of experimental data of both $\Lambda$s and $\overline{\Lambda}$s can be quantitatively explained fairly well. Our investigation also shows that both the production mechanism and the rescattering process of hadrons play important roles in the final yield of strange baryons.