Leptonic and charged kaon decay modes of the phi meson measured in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN super proton synchrotron.
We report on results of a measurement of meson production in central Pb-Au collisions at E(lab) = 158A GeV. For the first time in the history of high energy heavy-ion collisions, phi mesons were reconstructed both in the K+K- and the dilepton decay channels in the same experiment. This measurement yields rapidity densities near midrapidity, from the two decay channels, of 2.05 +/- 0.14(stat) +/- 0.25(syst) and 2.04 +/- 0.49(stat) +/- 0.32(syst), respectively. The shape of the measured transverse momentum spectrum is also in close agreement in both decay channels. The data rule out a possible enhancement of the phi yield in the leptonic over the hadronic decay channel of a factor 1.6 or larger at the 95% C.L. This rules out the discrepancy reported in the literature between measurements of the hadronic and dimuon decay channels by two different experiments.
Adamová
D
D
NPI/ASCR, Rez, Czech Republic.
Agakichiev
G
G
Antończyk
D
D
Appelshäuser
H
H
Belaga
V
V
Bielcíková
J
J
Braun-Munzinger
P
P
Busch
O
O
Cherlin
A
A
Damjanovic
S
S
Dietel
T
T
Dietrich
L
L
Drees
A
A
Esumi
S I
SI
Filimonov
K
K
Fomenko
K
K
Fraenkel
Z
Z
Garabatos
C
C
Glässel
P
P
Hering
G
G
Holeczek
J
J
Krobath
G
G
Kushpil
V
V
Ludolphs
W
W
Maas
A
A
Marín
A
A
Milosević
J
J
Miśkowiec
D
D
Ortega
R
R
Panebrattsev
Y
Y
Petchenova
O
O
Petrácek
V
V
Radomski
S
S
Rak
J
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Ravinovich
I
I
Rehak
P
P
Sako
H
H
Schmitz
W
W
Schukraft
J
J
Sedykh
S
S
Shimansky
S
S
Stachel
J
J
Sumbera
M
M
Tilsner
H
H
Tserruya
I
I
Tsiledakis
G
G
Wessels
J P
JP
Wienold
T
T
Wurm
J P
JP
Yurevich
S
S
Yurevich
V
V