Probing the nuclear equation of state by K+ production in heavy-ion collisions.

The dependence of K+ production on the nuclear equation of state is investigated in heavy-ion collisions. An increase of the excitation function of K+ multiplicities obtained in heavy (Au+Au) over light (C+C) systems when going far below threshold which has been observed by the KaoS Collaboration strongly favors a soft equation of state. This observation holds despite the influence of an in-medium kaon potential predicted by effective chiral models which is necessary to reproduce the experimental K+ yields.