What can we learn from a second phi meson peak in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions? Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The decay width of a phi meson is reduced from its vacuum value as its mass decreases in hot hadronic matter as a result of the partial restoration of chiral symmetry. This reduction is, however, cancelled by collisional broadening through the reactions KK*, KK, KK, and KK. The resulting phi meson width in hot hadronic matter is found to be less than about 10 MeV for temperatures below 200 MeV. If hadronic matter has a strong first-order phase transtion, this narrow phi meson with reduced mass will appear as a second peak in the dilepton spectrum in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. We discuss use of this second phi peak to determine the transition temperature and the lifetime of the two-phase coexistence region in the case of a strong first-order phase transition. We also discuss using the peak to determine the range of temperatures over which the transition occurs in the case of a smooth but fast change in the entropy density. 1994 The American Physical Society.

published proceedings

  • Phys Rev C Nucl Phys

author list (cited authors)

  • Ko, C. M., & Seibert, D.

citation count

  • 44

complete list of authors

  • Ko, CM||Seibert, D

publication date

  • April 1994