Search for exotic strange quark matter in high energy nuclear reactions

We report on a search for metastable positively and negatively charged states of strange quark matter in Au + Pb reactions at 11.6 A GeV/c in experiment E864. We have sampled approximately six billion 10% most central Au + Pb interactions and have observed no strangelet states (baryon number A < 100 droplets of strange quark matter). We thus set upper limits on the production of these exotic states at the level of 1-6 x 10(-8) per central collision. These limits are the best and most model independent for this colliding system. We discuss the implications of our results on strangelet production mechanisms, and also on the stability question of strange quark matter. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.