STAR's Measurement of Energy and System Size Dependence of K/π Fluctuations at RHIC
Abstract
Strangeness enhancement has been predicted to be one of the signatures of the formation of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) and event-by-event fluctuations of strangeness may reveal the nature of such a phase transition. We report results for K/π fluctuations from Cu+Cu at sNN = 62.4 and 200 GeV and Au+Au collisions at sNN = 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We compare our results with the results observed in central Pb+Pb collisions at SPS energies at sNN = 6.3, 7.6, 8.8, 12.3, and 17.3 GeV. We observe the fluctuation strength measured at the highest SPS energy point by the NA49 collaboration in Pb+Pb collisions is similar to our results in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions. We also compare our results with HIJING, a statistical hadronization model and a multi-phase transport model.