Event-by-event fluctuations of the kaon to pion ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

SV Afanasiev, Lee Barnby, Robert Barton, Charles Blyth, Peter Jones, John Nelson, Gordon Squier, Timothy Yates

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Abstract

We present the first measurement of fluctuations from event to event in the production of strange particles in collisions of heavy nuclei. The ratio of charged kaons to charged pions is determined for individual central Pb+Pb collisions. After accounting for the fluctuations due to detector resolution and finite number statistics we derive an upper limit on genuine nonstatistical fluctuations, which could be related to a first- or second-order QCD phase transition. Such fluctuations are shown to be very small.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1965-1969
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume86
Issue number10
Early online date1 Mar 2001
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2001

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