Related papers: Problems with empirical bounds for strangelet prod…

Experiments at the Brookhaven National Laboratory will study collisions between gold nuclei at unprecedented energies. The concern has been voiced that ``strangelets''-hypothetical products of these collisions - may trigger the destruction…

We discuss speculative disaster scenarios inspired by hypothetical new fundamental processes that might occur in high energy relativistic heavy ion collisions. We estimate the parameters relevant to black hole production; we find that they…

The safety of collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was studied in 2003 by the LHC Safety Study Group, who concluded that they presented no danger. Here we review their 2003 analysis in light of additional experimental results and…

We present the final results from Experiment 864 of a search for charged and neutral strange quark matter produced in interactions of 11.5 GeV/c per nucleon Au beams with Pt or Pb targets. Searches were made for strange quark matter with…

We present results of a search for strange quark matter (strangelets) in 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb collisions from the 1994 and 1995 runs of experiment E864 at Brookhaven's AGS. We observe no strangelet candidates and set a 90% confidence level…

With the advent of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Heavy Ion Physics will enter a new energy regime. The question is whether the signatures proposed for the discovery of a phase transition…

Low-baryon number lumps of strange quark matter, strangelets, are presently searched for in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion experiments at CERN and Brookhaven. This paper gives an overview of the physical properties of strangelets with…

Open questions concerning strangeness production in heavy-ion collisions are discussed with a focus on the experimental aspects. The open points are presented in the context of recent measurements.

The possibility that experiments at high-energy accelerators could create new forms of matter that would ultimately destroy the Earth has been considered several times in the past quarter century. One consequence of the earliest of these…

The properties of finite lumps of strange quark matter (strangelets) with emphasis on the two scenarios of producing strange matter in relativistic heavy ion collisions are summarized. As an outlook, the possibility of short-lived strange…

The electric charge of strange quark matter is of vital importance to experiments. A recent investigation shows that strangelets are most likely highly negatively charged, rather than slightly positively charged as previously believed. Our…

There is a curious absence of legal constraints on U.S. government agencies undertaking potentially risky scientific research. Some of these activities may present a risk of killing millions or even destroying the planet. Current law leaves…

There have been several reports of exotic nuclear fragments, with highly unusual charge to mass ratio, in cosmic ray experiments. Although there exist experimental uncertainties which make them, at best, only candidate "exotic" events, it…

Strangelets (hypothetical stable lumps of strange quarkmatter) of astrophysical origin may be ultimately detected in specific cosmic ray experiments. The initial mass distribution resulting from the possible astrophysical production sites…

For a limited range of parameters, stable strange quark matter may be negatively charged in bulk due to one gluon exchange interactions. However, the reduction in strange quark occupation in the surface layer, which is responsible for…

Five years have passed since the first collisions of Au nuclei at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on Long Island. With nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies of up to sqrt(s_NN)=200GeV…

An experimental overview of the energy dependence of strangeness production is presented. The strange hadrons are considered a good probe to study the QCD matter created in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. The heavy-ion experiments…

QCD predicts a phase transition between hadronic matter and a Quark Gluon Plasma at high energy density. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory is a new facility dedicated to the experimental study of…

Strangeness study is one of the major goal of the STAR experiment at RHIC. Results presented here have been obtained from analyses restricted to the mid-rapidity region of Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 130 GeV. An onset of the…

Strangeness production in heavy ion collisions is discussed in a broad energy range from SIS to RHIC. %We emphasize that in the In the whole energy range particle yields are showing high level of chemical equilibration which can be…