Charged hadron production in nucleus-nucleus collisions from NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

 

NA61/SHINE is a multipurpose fixed-target experiment located at the CERN SPS. One of its main goals is to study the onset of deconfinement and the properties of strongly interacting matter. For this purpose, a unique two-dimensional scan in collision energy ($\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} =  5.1 - 17.3$~GeV) and system size was performed.

Results on charged hadron spectra produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions, including the recent results for the Xe+La system, which completes the two-dimensional scan, will be presented. The kinematic distributions and the measured multiplicities of identified hadrons will be compared with available world data as well as with models' predictions.

The obtained results, particularly the ratio of positively charged kaons to pions, are crucial for understanding the phenomenon of the onset of deconfinement, which is one of the main aims of the strong interaction program of the NA61/SHINE collaboration.