Strangeness production at mid-rapidity in S + Pb collisions at 200 GeV/c per nucleon

Abstract Experimental evidence is presented for a source of unusually high strangeness content located at mid-rapidity in 200 GeV/ c per nucleon collisions of 32 S projectiles with a Pb target. The enhancement is not seen in p+Pb reactions measured in the same apparatus at the same energy. This source becomes dominant for central collisions.