Search for neutral strange quark matter in high energy heavy ion collisions

Journal Article · Wed Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1999 · Physical Review, C

OSTI ID:347065

De Cataldo, G; Giglietto, N; Raino, A; Spinelli, P ^[1]; Huang, H Z ^[2]; Barish, K ^[3]; Hill, J C; Hoversten, R A; Lajoie, J G; Libby, B; Wohn, F K ^[4]; Rabin, M S ^[5]; Haridas, P; Pless, I A; Van Buren, G ^[6]; Armstrong, T A; Lewis, R A; Reid, J D; Smith, G A; Toothacker, W S ^[7] ; Davies, R; Hirsch, A S; Porile, N T; Rimai, A; Scharenberg, R; Tincknell, M L ^[8]; Lainus, T ^[9]; Greene, S V; Maguire, C F ^[10]; Bennett, S J; Cormier, T M; Dee, P R; Fachini, P; Kim, B; Li, Q; Li, Y; Munhoz, M G; Pruneau, C A; Zhao, K ^[11]; Chikanian, A; Coe, S D; Diebold, G E; Finch, L E; George, N K; Kumar, B S; Majka, R D; Nagle, J L; Pope, J K; Rotondo, F S; Sandweiss, J; Slaughter, A J ^[12]

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1. University of Bari/INFN, Bari (Italy)
2. University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States)
3. University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California 92521 (United States)
4. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 (United States)
5. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003 (United States)
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
7. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)
8. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States)
9. United States Military Academy, West Point, New York 10996 (United States)
10. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennesee 37235 (United States)
11. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201 (United States)
12. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States)

We present results of a search for neutral strange quark matter (strangelets) in 11.6A GeV/c Au+Pb reactions from the 1995 run of experiment E864 at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. We have sampled approximately 1.3 billion 10{percent} most central Au+Pb interactions and have observed no statistically significant signal for neutral strangelet states with baryon number in the range 6{lt}A{lt}100. We set upper limits on the production of these exotic states at the level of 8{times}10{sup {minus}8} per central collision for mass {gt}20 GeV/c{sup 2}. These limits are the first limits reported on the production of heavy neutral strangelets. They complement searches for positively and negatively charged strangelets also conducted by our collaboration. We discuss the implications of these results on strangelet production mechanisms and the stability of strange quark matter. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 347065
• Journal Information: Physical Review, C, Journal Name: Physical Review, C Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 59; ISSN 0556-2813; ISSN PRVCAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
GOLD
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
LEAD
QUARK MATTER
STRANGE PARTICLES