Abstract:
We argue that the emission of hadrons with transverse
momentum up to about 5 GeV/c in central relativistic heavy
ion collisions is dominated by recombination, rather than
fragmentation of partons. This mechanism provides a natural
explanation for the observed constant baryon-to-meson ratio
of about one and the apparent lack of a nuclear suppression
of the baryon yield in this momentum range. Fragmentation
becomes dominant at higher transverse momentum, but the
transition point is delayed by the energy loss of fast
partons in dense matter.