STRANGE ANTIBARYON PRODUCTION DATA AND REDUCTION OF STRANGENESS SUPPRESSION IN SULFUR-NUCLEUS COLLISIONS AT 200A GEV

We have used the event generator LUCIAE to analyse NA35 data of the (p ) over bar and ii yields and transverse mass distributions and the rat io <(Lambda)over bar>/(p) over bar in pp and central sulphur-nucleus c ollisions at 200A GeV. The NA35 data could be reproduced reasonably if one assumes that the s quark pair suppression factor and concerns in nucleus-nucleus collisions are larger than the nucleon-nucleon collisi on. it seems to indicate that NA35 data might imply the reduction of s trangeness suppression in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions comparing to the nucleon-nucleon collision at the same energy. Howeve r, the ratio <(Lambda)over bar>/(p) over bar approaching to unity in A A collisions comparing to the pp collision does not necessarily mean a flavor symmetry since hadronic rescattering plays a role as well. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.