Strangelet search in Au+Au collisions at VsNN=200 GeV

Abstract

We have searched for strangelets in a triggered sample of 61 million central (top 4%) Au+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV near beam rapidities at the STAR solenoidal tracker detector at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. We have sensitivity to metastable strangelets with lifetimes of order ⩾0.1 ns, in contrast to limits over ten times longer in BNL Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) studies and longer still at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). Upper limits of a few 10-6 to 10-7 per central Au+Au collision are set for strangelets with mass ≳30 GeV/c2.