K+ production in a cascade model for high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions

The K+ production is studied for the p + NaF, Ne + NaF, Ne + Pb systems at 2.1 GeV/A in the frame of a 3-dimensional cascade model. Owing to the small elementary production cross sections, the K+ production is calculated perturbatively. Two kinds of production processes are introduced: baryon-baryon collisions leading to three-particle final states, and pion-nucleon collisions leading to two-body final states. The time evolution of the two processes is studied. The integrated K+ cross sections are in good agreement with the experimental data. The contribution of the πN induced mechanism is of the order of 25% for Ne + NaF, but increases with the size of the system. Scaling properties are discussed. A simple rescattering model is used to calculate the invariant cross section for the Ne + NaF case. Good agreement with experiment is obtained, except at forward angles.