Midrapidity Λ and Λ¯¯ production in Au + Au collisions at √(sNN) = 130 GeV

• Published in: Physical review letters 2002-08, Vol.89 (9)
• Main Authors: Adler, C., Allgower, C., Amonett, J., Anderson, B. D., Anderson, M., Balewski, J., Barannikova, O., Barnby, L. S., Baudpt, J., Bekele, S., Belaga, V. V., Berger, J., Bichsel, H., Billmeier, A., Bland, L. C., Blyth, C. O., Bonner, B. E., Brandin, A., Cadman, R. V., Caines, H., Carroll, J., Castillo, J., Castro, M., Chaloupka, P., Chattopadhyay, S., Chen, Y., Chernenko, S. P., Chikanian, A., Choi, B., Christie, W., Cormier, T. M., Cramer, J. G., Deng, W. S., Derevschikov, A. A., Didenko, L., Dietel, T., Dunin, V. B., Dunlop, J. C., Efimov, L. G., Emelianov, V., Engelage, J., Eppley, G., Erazmus, B., Fachini, P., Faine, V., Faivre, J., Finch, E., Fisyak, Y., Flierl, D., Gagliardi, C. A., Gaudichet, L., Germain, M., Geurts, F., Ghazikhanian, V., Grachov, O., Gushin, E., Hallman, Timothy J., Hardtke, D., Heppelmann, S., Hjort, E., Hoffmann, G. W., Humanic, T. J., Igo, G., Ishihara, A., Ivanshin, Yu I., Jacobs, P., Janik, M., Jones, P. G., Judd, E. G., Kaneta, M., Keane, D., Kiryluk, J., Kisiel, A., Klay, J., Klein, S. R., Klyachko, A., Konstantinov, A. S., Kotchenda, L., Kovalenko, A. D., Kramer, M., Krueger, K., Kulikov, A. I., Kunz, C. L., Kutuev, R. Kh, Kuznetsov, A. A., Lamont, M. A.C., Landsdell, C. P., Lasiuk, B., Lauret, J., Lebedev, A., Leontiev, V. W., LeVine, M. J., Liu, F., Liu, L., Liu, Z., Liu, Q. J., Ljubicic, T., Llope, W. J., Longacre, R. S., Lopez-Noriega, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ANTILAMBDA PARTICLES; GOLD IONS; ION-ION COLLISIONS; LAMBDA PARTICLES; NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; PARTICLE PRODUCTION; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.092301

We report the first measurement of strange (Λ) and antistrange (Λ¯¯¯) baryon production from √(sNN)=130 GeV Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Rapidity density and transverse mass distributions at midrapidity are presented as a function of centrality. The yield of Λ and Λ¯¯¯ hyperons is found to be approximately proportional to the number of negative hadrons. The production of Λ¯¯¯ hyperons relative to negative hadrons increases very rapidly with transverse momentum. The magnitude of the increase cannot be described by existing hadronic string fragmentation models alone.