Canonical description of strangeness enhancement from p-A to Pb-Pb collisions

We consider the production of strange particles in Pb-Pb and p-A collisions at the SPS energy reported by the WA97 experiment. We show that the observ ed enhancement of strange baryon and antibaryon yields in Pb-Pb collisions relative to p-Be and p-Pb can be explained in terms of the statistical mode l formulated in the canonical ensemble with respect to strangeness conserva tion. The importance and the role of strangeness under saturation is also d iscussed. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.