Search for strange quark matter produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions - art. no. 054903

Authors
Armstrong, TA Barish, KN Batsouli, S Bennett, SJ Bertaina, M Chikanian, A Coe, SD Cormier, TM Davies, RR DeCataldo, G Dee, P Diebold, GE Dover, CB Fachini, P Fadem, B Finch, LE George, NK Giglietto, N Greene, SV Haridas, P Hill, JC Hirsch, AS Hoversten, RA Huang, HZ Jaradat, H Kim, B Kumar, BS Lainis, T Lajoie, JG Lewis, RA Li, Q Libby, B Majka, RD Miller, TE Munhoz, MG Nagle, JL Pless, IA Pope, JK Porile, NT Pruneau, CA Rabin, MSZ Reid, JD Rimai, A Rose, A Rotondo, FS Sandweiss, J Scharenberg, RP Slaughter, AJ Smith, GA Spinelli, P Tincknell, ML Toothacker, WS Van Buren, G Wilson, WK Wohn, FK Wolin, EJ Xu, Z Zhao, K
Citation
Ta. Armstrong et al., Search for strange quark matter produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions - art. no. 054903, PHYS REV C, 6305(5), 2001, pp. 4903
Citations number
73
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
PHYSICAL REVIEW C
ISSN journal
05562813 → ACNP
Volume
6305
Issue
5
Year of publication
2001
Database
ISI
SICI code
0556-2813(200105)6305:5<4903:SFSQMP>2.0.ZU;2-E
Abstract
We present the final results from Experiment 864 of a search for charged an d neutral strange quark matter produced in interactions of 11.5 GeV/c per n ucleon Au beams with Pt or Pb targets. Searches were made for strange quark matter with A greater than or equal to 5. Approximately 3 X 10(10) 10% mos t central collisions were sampled and no strangelet states with A less than or equal to 100 were observed. We find 90% confidence level upper limits o f approximately 10(-8) per central collision for both charged and neutral s trangelets. These limits are for strangelets with proper lifetimes greater than 50 ns. Also limits for H-0-d and pineut production are given. The abov e limits are compared with the predictions of various models. The yields of light nuclei from coalescence are measured and a penalty factor for the ad dition of one nucleon to the coalescing nucleus is determined. This is usef ul in gauging the significance of our upper limits and also in planning fut ure searches for strange quark matter.