Quark liberation and coalescence at CERN SPS

Abstract The linear coalescence approach to hadronization of quark matter is shown to have problems with strangeness conservation in a baryon rich environment. The simplest correct quark counting is shown to coincide with the non-linear al gebraic co alescence r ehadronization model, ALCOR. We argue that experimental facts agree with the assumption that quark degrees of freedom are liberated before hadron formation in 158 AGeV central Pb + Pb collisions at CERN SPS.