Strangeness production in high density baryon matter

Strangeness production in heavy ion collisions, when compared with proton-proton collisions, is potentially a sensitive probe for collective energy deposition and therefore for reaction mechanisms in general. It may therefore provide insight into possible quark-gluon plasma formation in dense nuclear matter. To establish an understanding of the observed yields, a systematic study of high density baryon matter at different beam energies is essential. This might also reveal possible discontinuities in the energy dependence of the reaction mechanism. We present preliminary results for kaon production in Au + Au collisions at beam kinetic energies of 6, 8, and 10.7 GeV/u obtained by the E917 experiment at the AGS (BNL). These measurements complement those carried out by the E866 Collaboration at 2, 4, and 10.7 GeV/u with a significantly enlarged data sample. In both experiments a large range of rapidities was covered by taking data at different angular settings of the magnetic spectrometer.