SEARCH FOR EXOTIC STRANGE QUARK MATTER IN HIGH-ENERGY NUCLEAR-REACTIONS

We report on a search for metastable positively and negatively charged states of strange quark matter in Au + Pb reactions at 11.6 A GeV/c i n experiment E864. We have sampled approximately six billion 10% most central Au + Pb interactions and have observed no strangelet states (b aryon number A < 100 droplets of strange quark matter). We thus set up per limits on the production of these exotic states at the level of 1- 6 x 10(-8) per central collision. These limits are the best and most m odel independent for this colliding system. We discuss the implication s of our results on strangelet production mechanisms, and also on the stability question of strange quark matter. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.