A study ofK s o , Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) production in 60 and 200 GeV per nucleon OAu and pAu collisions with a streamer chamber detector at the CERN SPSproduction in 60 and 200 GeV per nucleon OAu and pAu collisions with a streamer chamber detector at the CERN SPS

The production of neutral strange particlesK s o , Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) has been studied in 60 and 200 GeV per nucleon OAu and pAu collisions with the streamer chamber vertex spectrometer of the NA35 experiment at the CERN-SPS accelerator. Ratios of neutral strange particle production to negatively charged particle production in selected regions of phase space were measured to be the same in OAu and pAu reactions. The rates of strange particle production in central OAu collisions are about a factor of 16 higher than in pAu collisions when compared in the same regions of phase space. If an enhancement of strange particle production in OAu collisions relative to pAu collisions is considered to be a signature for quark-gluon plasma formation, no evidence supporting it is observed. The experimental results are compared to the Lund FRITIOF model.