Beam energy dependence of strange hadron production from STAR at RHIC

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of strange hadron production in gold-gold collisions at various energies at RHIC, providing insights into the underlying partonic and hadronic processes during heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It presents new experimental data on strange hadron yields and ratios across multiple energies, enhancing understanding of QCD matter at different conditions.

Findings

Variation of nuclear modification factors with energy

Baryon-to-meson ratio trends across energies

Evidence for different dynamics at low beam energies

Abstract

We present STAR measurements of K^{0}_{S}, \phi, \Lambda, \Xi, and \Omega at mid-rapidity from Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, and 39 GeV from the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Nuclear modification factors and baryon-to-meson ratios are measured to understand recombination and parton energy loss mechanisms. Implications on partonic versus hadronic dynamics at low beam energies are discussed.