Leptonic and charged kaon decay modes of the φ meson measured in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS
Abstract
We report a measurement of φ meson production in central Pb+Au collisions at Elab/A=158 GeV. For the first time in heavy-ion collisions, φ mesons were reconstructed in the same experiment both in the K+K- and the dilepton decay channel. Near mid-rapidity, this yields rapidity densities, corrected for production at the same rapidity value, of 2.05 +- 0.14(stat) +- 0.25(syst) and 2.04 +- 0.49(stat)+-0.32(syst), respectively. The shape of the measured transverse momentum spectra is also in close agreement in both decay channels. The data rule out a possible enhancement of the φ yield in the leptonic over the hadronic channel by a factor larger than 1.6 at 95% CL.
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