$\Lambda$ (1520) production at SPS and RHIC energies

The recent preliminary results from central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}= 130$ GeV from the STAR experiment at RHIC are presented and discussed along with the results on the $\Lambda$ (1520) production in central Pb+Pb and p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s}=17$ Ge V from the NA49 experiment at the SPS. The $\Lambda$ (1520) is measured with the invariant mass reconstruction of the decay products in the hadronic channel $(K^{-}, p)$. The mean $\Lambda$ (1520) multiplicity scaled by the number of participants decreases from p+p to Pb+Pb collisions at the same energy of $\sqrt{s}=17$ GeV. An upper limit estimate of the multiplicity from the first measurement at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=130$ GeV shows the same trend. Comparisons with model predictions provide an indication of possible medium effects on the resonances and their decay daughters. (20 refs).