Reply to Comment of Gazdzicki and Heinz on Strangeness Enhancement in $p+A$ and $S+A$

Abstract

The Comment of Gazdzicki and Heinz is flawed because their assumed baryon stopping power in $pA$ is inconsistent with data and because they ignored half the analysis based on the VENUS model. The Comment continues the misleading presentation of strangeness enhancement by focusing on ratios of integrated yields. Those ratios discard essential experimental information on the rapidity dependence of produced $\Lambda$ and obscure discrepancies between different data sets. Our conclusion remains that the NA35 minimum bias data on $p+S\rightarrow\Lambda +X $ indicate an anomalous enhancement of central rapidity strangeness in few nucleon reactions that points to non-equilibrium dynamics as responsible for strangeness enhancement in nuclear reactions.