Charged particle spectra in central S + S collisions at 200-GeV/c per nucleon

The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of negative hadrons and participant protons have been measured for central [sup 32]S+ [sup 32]S collisions at [ital p][sub lab]=200 GeV/[ital c] per nucleon. The proton mean rapidity shift [l angle][Delta][ital y][r angle][similar to]1.6 and mean transverse momentum [l angle][ital p][sub [ital T]][r angle][similar to]0.6 GeV/[ital c] are much higher than in [ital pp] or peripheral [ital AA] collisions and indicate an increase in the nuclear stopping power. All [ital p][sub [ital T]] spectra exhibit similar source temperatures. Including previous results for [ital K][sub [ital s]][sup 0] [Lambda], and [bar [Lambda]], we account for all important contributions to particle production.