Antimatter production in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions at ultrarelativistic energies

Abstract

One of the striking features of particle production at high beam energies is the near-equal abundance of matter and antimatter in the central rapidity region. In this paper we study how this symmetry is reached as the beam energy is increased. In particular, we quantify explicitly the energy dependence of the approach to matter-antimatter symmetry in proton-proton and in heavy-ion collisions. Expectations are presented also for the production of more complex forms of antimatter such as antihypernuclei.