Energy dependence of kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions

Abstract

Recent results from the NA49 experiment on the energy dependence of charged kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions are presented. First results from the new data at 80 AGeV beam energy are compared with those from lower and higher energies. A difference in the energy dependence of the <K^{+}>/<\pi^{+}> and <K^{-}>/<\pi^{-}> ratios is observed. The <K^{+}>/<\pi^{+}> ratio shows a non-monotonic behaviour with a maximum near 40 AGeV.