A coupled-chamiel analysis of scattering, two-neutron transfer and fusion in medium heavy-ion collisions

The medium modifications of antikaons in dense matter are studied in a coupled channel calculation for scenarios more closely related to the environment encountered in heavy-ion collisions. We find that the optical potential of the antikaons turns repulsive or is drastically reduced for finite momenta or finite temperature. Hence, the antikaon mass does not decrease substantially in heavy-ion collisions to provide an explanation for the observed antikaon production rates at threshold. We demonstrate that the in-medium production cross section of antikaons via pions and (sigma) hyperons is remarkably enhanced up to an order of magnitude. The effect of in medium correction on the resulting kaon spectra is studied within a transport model. We find that both in medium correction lead to about the same enhancement of the spectrum. However, once the temperature dependence is taken into account no enhancement is found.