Inhomogeneities in the freeze-out of relativistic heavy-ion collisions

an inhomogeneous decoupling surface of hadrons produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions may occur, if the expanding hot and dense matter passes through a first order phase transition. we show that due to the non-linear dependence of the particle densities on the temperature and baryon-chemical potential such inhomogeneities should be visible even in the integrated, inclusive abundances. we analyze experimental data from pb+pb collisions at cern-sps and au+au collisions at bnl-rhic to determine the amplitude of inhomogeneities and the role of local and global strangeness neutrality.