Charged pion production in few-GeV heavy-ion collisions measured with HADES

The focal point of this contribution is the production of charged pions in Ag+Ag collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 2.4 GeV registered by the HADES experiment in March 2019. Pions are produced abundantly in such collisions and provide a good probe for investigating the nature of nuclear matter in the extreme conditions attained by HADES. This work provides a short overview of the HADES experiment and its components. Among the products of relativistic Ag+Ag collisions charged pions were identified using the dependence of velocity and/or energy losses on momentum. Transverse mass and rapidity distributions of pions were obtained in four centrality classes spanning 40% of most central events. The reconstructed phase-space distribution is used as a starting point for total pion yield calculations and further studies. This research project was financially supported by the GET_INvolved ERASMUS+ Programme of GSI/FAIR, HADES and the University of Warsaw.