Open and hidden strangeness in hadronic systems

TL;DR

This paper explores the production of strange hadrons like  and  in nucleus-nucleus collisions, proposing reactions involving strange particles to explain observed yields and spectral features at different energies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interpretation involving strange particle catalysis to explain experimental data on  and  production in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

High  yields can be explained by strange particle catalysis.

 yield enhancement is greater when considering experimental centrality effects.

Review of hadronic processes potentially producing .

Abstract

We investigate production of \phi mesons and \Xi baryons in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Reactions on strange particles acting as a catalyser are proposed to interpret the high observed \phi yields in HADES experiments as well as the energy dependence of the widths of \phi rapidity spectra in collisions at the SPS energies. It is argued that the enhancement of \Xi- yield observed by HADES is even higher than originally reported if effects of the experimental centrality trigger are taken into account. Cross sections for new hadronic processes that could produce \Xi- are reviewed.