Searching for the Quark-Gluon Plasma via Kaon Production at the AGS

Abstract

The overarching goal of our current research is to determine whether anything unusual happens in an Au + Au collision at 10 A.GeV. Of the many possibilities, two are compelling: 1) Do we form a baryon-rich Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP)? 2) Are the properties of hadrons, their masses, cross-sections changed in a dense nuclear medium? Before answering these questions, we need a solid understanding of the reaction dynamics, the roles played by multiple scattering, excited resonances and the balance between absorption and initial production of particles. This foundation is necessary because any signatures of new physics will be sitting in the dominant environment of hadronic rescattering.