Particle Production and Deconfinement Threshold

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the NA49 experimental particle yield results, and discuss the physical properties of the particle source. We explain in depth how our analysis differs from the work of other groups, what advance this implies in terms of our understanding, and what new physics about the deconfined particle source this allows us to recognize. We answer several frequently asked questions, presenting a transcript of a discussion regarding our data analysis. We show that the final NA49 data at 40, 80, 158 AGeV lead to a remarkably constant extensive thermal chemical-freeze-out properties of the fireball. We discuss briefly the importance of thermal hadronization pressure. 8th Conference Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum

Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks

“…The reason that such data are chosen for study is that particle yields are independent of local matter velocity in the fireball which imposes spectra deformation akin to the Doppler shift. However, if the p ⊥ coverage is not full, an extrapolation of [71,72], the SHM-SHARE results (full circles) [7,73,74,75,76,77,78,79] and results of other groups [80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88]. Figure from Ref.…”

Melting hadrons, boiling quarks

“…[73] for results involving most (as available) central collisions and heaviest nuclei. The solid circles are results obtained using the full SHM parameter set [7,[73][74][75][76][77][78][79]. The SHARE LHC freeze-out temperature is clearly below the lattice critical temperature range.…”

“…This complete set is necessary since the observed particle set includes particles arising from [71,72], the SHM-SHARE results (full circles) [7,[73][74][75][76][77][78][79] and results of other groups [80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88]. Figure from ref.…”

From strangeness enhancement to quark–gluon plasma discovery

“…7 on the left, where the K + /π + -ratio for both experiment and theoretical fit adapted from Ref. 52 is shown. The question that we need to answer is what it is that the "horn" signals?…”