Abstract:
Strangeness production in microscopic
transport models for
relativistic heavy-ion collisions from SIS to
RHIC is
reviewed: after a brief introduction into
elementary
strangeness production processes, the main
emphasis is put
on strangeness as indicator of the nuclear
equation of
state, the excitation function of the
$K^+/\pi^+$ ratio and
strangeness as a deconfinement indicator.