Measurements of $\pi ^\pm$, $K^\pm$, p and $\bar{p}$ spectra in $^{40}\hbox {Ar+}^{45}\hbox {Sc}$ collisions at 13A to 150A $\text{ Ge }\hspace{-1.00006pt}\text{ V }\!/\!c$

The NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron studies the onset of deconfinement in strongly interacting matter through a beam energy
scan of particle production in collisions of nuclei of varied sizes. This paper presents results on inclusive double-differential spectra, transverse momentum and rapidity distributions and mean multiplicities of $π^±, K^±, p$ and $\bar{p}$ producedin $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc collisions at beam momenta of 13A, 19A, 30A, 40A, 75A and 150A GeV/c. The analysis uses the 10% most central collisions, where the observed forward energy defines centrality. The energy dependence of the $K^±/π^±$ ratios as well as of inverse slope parameters of the $K^±$ transverse mass distributions are placed in between those found in inelastic $p + p$ and central $Pb + Pb$ collisions. The results obtained here establish a system-size dependence of hadron production properties that so far cannot be explained either within statistical or dynamical models.