Target Dependence of Central Rapidity Λ Production in Sulfur-Nucleus Collisions at 200 GeV/cper Nucleon

Central rapidity LAMBDA-production has been measured in sulfur collisions with Cu, Ag, and Pb at 200 GeV/c per nucleon. Lambdas produced in these collisions were identified by their charged decays recorded by a time projection chamber. The LAMBDA-yields are compared as a function of target mass. For each target, the yields are reported as a function of LAMBDA-transverse kinetic energy and zero degree energy (a measure of collision centrality). In each system, the data exceed predictions of the VENUS (4.02) model of sulfur-nucleus collisions. The observed excesses show no obvious variation with collision centrality from moderate to highly central collisions.