First results from the H0 di-baryon search and hyperon production measurements by the AGS Experiment 896.

Abstract The AGS Experiment 896 was designed to study strangeness production in Au—Au collisions at 11.6A GeV/c, in particular the formation of a six-quark di-baryon the H 0 . Heavy ion collisions provide favorable conditions for the H 0 formation either via coalescence of two Λ particles (owing to the large Λ production cross section) or direct production from the possible formation of a quark-gluon plasma. E896 also measured strange meson and baryon distributions from mid-rapidity. Preliminary results from this experiment are presented as well as details of the expected sensitivity for the H 0 search.