The theoretical possibility that strange matter is more stable than nuclear matter has enormous implications. It has been suggested to search for the possible formation of metastable strange matter with a relatively small baryon number $A$, $S$ drops, in present fixed-target relativistic heavy-ion collisions at BNL and CERN. In this paper we estimate the sensitivity required for the above experiments to be successful. These estimates of the production (and lifetimes) of $S$ drops as a function of $A$, strangeness $S$, and electric charge, $Z$, should be useful in designing and evaluating searches for $S$ drops, ${}_{}{}^S{}_{}{}^{}A_{}^Z{}_{}{}^{}$. For example, the production estimates for metastable $S$ drops with $A\lesssim 30$ indicate that they could be detected with dedicated experiments having high sensitivity. Furthermore, specific searches for metastable $S$ drops with $Z<\mathrm{}0\mathrm{}$ would have the advantage of a low intrinsic background.

• Received 8 July 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.45.857