Antibaryon (anti p, anti λ) production in relativistic nuclear collisions

The relativistic meson field theory is used to study the effects of the in-medium interaction on the predicted antibaryon abundancy in hot hadronic matter. It is demonstrated that subtreshold production of antiprotons in high energy heavy ion collisions at Elab=1-2 GeV/nucleon is enhanced by 2-3 orders of magnitude as compared to a standard fireball model estimate. Furthermore, we show that after the inclusion of interactions the anti-hyperon yields, e.g. anti Λ/π-, are enhanced by about a factor ten. Predicted yields are in excess of the data measured by the NA35 and WA85 collaborations at CERN. The annihilation of antibaryons in surrounding matter at the final stage of the reaction may essentially reduce their abundancy. (orig.)