PRODUCTION OF K+ MESONS IN RELATIVISTIC NUCLEAR COLLISIONS

A three-dimensional hydrodynamical model and hadrochemical kinetics are used to study the yield of K+ mesons in nucleus-nucleus collisions with energies approximately 1-10 GeV/nucleon. An analysis is made of two limiting scenarios for the evolution of strange particles: 1) the strange particles produced in the collision process are in thermal and mechanical equilibrium with the gas of nonstrange hadrons and evolve together with them up to a certain instant of "freezing;" 2) the strange particles are emitted from the system after their production. The results of the calculations reproduce the experimental cross sections for the reactions Ne + NaF --> K+ + X and Ne + Pb --> K+ + X at the energy E(lab) = 2.1 GeV/nucleon and the spectra of K+ mesons in Si + Au central collisions with energy E(lab) = 13.6 GeV/nucleon. It is shown that the yield of K+ mesons has a strong dependence on the equation-of-state of nuclear matter.