Strangeness enhancement in p–A collisions: Consequences for the interpretation of strangeness production in A–A collisions

Published measurements of semi-inclusiveproduction in p-Au collisions at the AGS are used to estimate the yields of singly strange hadrons in nucleus-nucleus (A-A) collisions. Results of a described extrapolation technique are shown and com- pared to measurements of K + production in Si-Al, Si-Au, and Au-Au collisions at the AGS and netproduction in S-S, S-Ag, Pb-Pb, and inclusive p-A collisions at the SPS. The extrapolations can account for more than 75% of the measured strange particle yields in all of the studied systems except for very central Au+Au collisions at the AGS where RQMD comparisons suggest large re-scattering contributions. Strange particle production has long been considered an important experimen- tal probe of heavy ion collisions due to the possibility that strange particle