Enhanced strange baryon production in Au_s16Au collisions compared to p_s16p at sqrts = 200 GeV

Abstract

We report on the observed differences in production rates of strange and multi-strange baryons in Au_s16Au collisions at sqrts = 200 GeV compared to pp interactions at the same energy. The strange baryon yields in Au_s16Au collisions, then scaled down by the number of participating nucleons, are enhanced relative to those measured in pp reactions. The enhancement observed increases with the strangeness content of the baryon, and increases for all strange baryons with collision centrality. The enhancement is qualitatively similar to that observed at lower collision energy sqrts =17.3 GeV. The previous observations are for the bulk production, while at intermediate pT, 1 < pT< 4 GeV/c, the strange baryons even exceed binary scaling from pp yields.