0 Strangeness Equilibration at GSI Energies

We argue that both K + and K − must get lighter in dense medium at some density ρ > ρ 0 due to the decoupling of the vector mesons. This modifies significantly the strangeness equilibration as well as kaon condensation scenarios hitherto put forward in the literature. We note that the claimed equilibration density at GSI energies, ∼ ρ 0 /4 – which is much too low – results from a baryon chemical potential µ B which is substantially less than m N. It is shown that the " equilibration density " for positive strangeness can be increased by a factor of ∼ 8, to 2ρ 0. One of the consequences of this scenario is that kaon condensation in compact stars could take place before chiral restoration since the sum of bare quark masses in the kaon should lie below µ e. Another consequence of the decoupling vector interactions is that the quasi-particle picture involving (quasi)quarks, presumably ineffective at low densities, becomes more appropriate at higher densities as chiral restoration is approached.