Strangeness production in the new version of the Li\`ege Intra-Nuclear Cascade model

TL;DR

The paper introduces the new INCL++6 model version capable of simulating strange particle production and higher energy collisions, expanding the scope of nuclear reaction studies with improved features and validation against experimental data.

Contribution

This work presents the new features of INCL++6, including handling strange particles, extended energy range, and a variance reduction scheme, enhancing nuclear reaction modeling capabilities.

Findings

Successful simulation of kaon and hyperon production cross sections.

Extension of nucleon-nucleon collision energy up to 20 GeV.

Good agreement with experimental data for strangeness production cases.

Abstract

The capabilities of the new version of the Li\`ege Intra-Nuclear Cascade model (INCL++6) are presented in detail. This new version INCL is able to handle strange particles, such as kaons and the $\Lambda$ particle, and the associated reactions and also allows extending nucleon-nucleon collisions up to about $15-20$ GeV incident energy. Compared to the previous version, new observables can be studied, e.g., kaon, hyperon, and hypernuclei production cross sections (with the use of a suitable de-excitation code) as well as aspects of kaon-induced spallation reactions. The main purpose of this paper is to present the specific ingredients of the new INCL version and its new features, notably the new variance reduction scheme. We also compare for some illustrative strangeness production cases calculated using this version of INCL with experimental data.