Subthreshold Kaon Production as a Probe of the Nuclear Equation of State

Abstract

The production of kaons at subthreshold energies from heavy-ion collisions is sensitive to the nuclear equation of state. In the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck model, the number of produced kaons from central collisions between heavy nuclei at incident energies around 700 MeV/nucleon can vary by a factor of \ensuremath{\sim} 3, depending on the equation of state.