Strangeness production via resonances in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies

TL;DR

This study uses the SMASH transport model to analyze strange hadron production in low-energy heavy-ion collisions, constraining resonance properties from elementary reactions and applying the model to predict experimental outcomes.

Contribution

It provides a constrained resonance-based model for strange hadron production at SIS energies, linking elementary cross sections to heavy-ion collision data.

Findings

Vacuum resonance approach is viable for small systems at low energies.

Model constrains resonance properties using elementary reaction data.

Predictions made for upcoming pion-beam experiments by HADES.

Abstract

Production of strange hadrons in elementary and heavy-ion reactions is studied with the hadronic transport approach SMASH (Simulating Many Accelerated Strongly-interacting Hadrons). The poorly known branching ratios of the relevant hadronic resonances are constrained from the known elementary hadronic cross sections and from invariant mass spectra of dileptons. The constrained model is employed as a baseline to compare to heavy-ion-collision experiments at low energies ($E_\text{kin} = 1-2A\,\text{GeV}$) and to predict some of the upcoming pion-beam results by HADES, which are expected to be sensitive to the resonance properties. The employed vacuum-resonance approach proves to be viable for small systems at these energies, but for large systems additional in-medium effects might be required.