Enhancement of low-mt{m_t} kaons in AGS heavy-ion collisions

In the relativistic transport model, we show that the recently observed enhancement of low-$m_t$ kaons ($K^+$ and $K^-$) in Si+Pb collisions at AGS can be explained if a density isomer is introduced in the nuclear equation-of-state.Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, 6 figs on request to [email protected]

Low-mass dileptons and dropping rho meson mass

Using the transport model, we have studied dilepton production from heavy-ion collisions at Bevalac energies. It is found that the enhanced production of low-mass dileptons observed in the experiment by the DLS collaboration cannot be explained by the dropping of hadron masses, in particular the $\rho$-meson mass, in dense matter.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, including 1 postscript figure, to appear in Phys. Lett.

Charm meson scattering cross sections by pion and rho meson

Using the local flavor SU(4) gauge invariance in the limit of vanishing vector meson masses, we extend our previous study of charm meson scattering cross sections by pion and rho meson, which is based only on the pseudoscalar-pseudoscalar-vector meson couplings, to include also contributions from the couplings among three vector mesons and among four particles. We find that diagrams with light meson exchanges usually dominate the cross sections. For the processes considered previously, the additional interactions lead only to diagrams involving charm meson exchanges and contact interactions, and the cross sections for these processes are thus not much affected. Nevertheless, these additional interactions introduce new processes with light meson exchanges and increase significantly the total scattering cross sections of charm mesons by pion and rho meson.Comment: 14 pages, revtex, 6 figures, added a figure on the effects of on-shell divergence, final version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Hadron widths in mixed-phase matter

We derive classically an expression for a hadron width in a two-phase region of hadron gas and quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The presence of QGP gives hadrons larger widths than they would have in a pure hadron gas. We find that the $\phi$ width observed in a central Au+Au collision at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV/nucleon is a few MeV greater than the width in a pure hadron gas. The part of observed hadron widths due to QGP is approximately proportional to $(dN/dy)^{-1/3}$.Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figures, KSUCNR-002-9

Thermal photon production in high-energy nuclear collisions

We use a boost-invariant one-dimensional (cylindrically symmetric) fluid dynamics code to calculate thermal photon production in the central rapidity region of S+Au and Pb+Pb collisions at SPS energy ($\sqrt{s}=20$ GeV/nucleon). We assume that the hot matter is in thermal equilibrium throughout the expansion, but consider deviations from chemical equilibrium in the high temperature (deconfined) phase. We use equations of state with a first-order phase transition between a massless pion gas and quark gluon plasma, with transition temperatures in the range $150 \leq T_c \leq 200$ MeV.Comment: revised, now includes a_1 contribution. revtex, 10 pages plus 4 figures (uuencoded postscript

Excitation Functions of Stopping Power and Flow in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

Using a relativistic transport (ART) model, we study the stopping power, the formation of superdense hadronic matter as well as the strength of transverse and radial flow in central Au+Au collisions at beam momentum from 2 to 12 GeV/c per nucleon. We find that complete stopping is achieved in the whole beam momentum range. In particular, the proton rapidity distribution scaled by the beam rapidity is independent of the beam momentum, and this is in agreement with the experimental findings. Also, a large volume of superdense hadronic matter with a local energy density exceeding that expected for the transition of a hadronic matter to the quark-gluon plasma is formed in collisions at beam momenta greater than 8 GeV/c per nucleon. Furthermore, it is found that the transverse flow in these collisions is sensitive to the nuclear equation of state and decreases with increasing beam momentum. On the other hand, the radial flow is insensitive to the equation of state, and its strength increases with beam momentum.Comment: Talk given at NN97, Gatlinburg, Tennessee June 2-6,1997. To appear in the proc. in Nucl. Phys.

Can dileptons reveal the in-medium properties of vector mesons?

Dilepton production from both pion-pion and kaon-antikaon annihilation in heavy-ion collisions is studied using the relativistic transport model. The formation of a rho meson from pion-pion annihilation and a phi meson from kaon-antikaon annihilation, their propagation in the medium, and their decay into dileptons are explicitly treated. Including the medium modifications of the masses and widths of vector mesons as predicted by the QCD sum-rule calculations, we study their effects on the dilepton invariant mass spectra from heavy-ion collisions at SIS/GSI energies.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures available upon request to [email protected]

Phi meson production in relativistic heavy ion collisions

Within a multiphase transport model we study phi meson production in relativistic heavy ion collisions from both superposition of initial multiple proton-proton interactions and the secondary collisions in the produced hadronic matter. The yield of phi mesons is then reconstructed from their decaying product of either the kaon-antikaon pairs or the dimuon pairs. Since the kaon-antikaon pairs at midrapidity with low transverse momenta are predominantly rescattered or absorbed in the hadronic medium, they can not be used to reconstruct the phi meson and lead thus to a smaller reconstructed phi meson yield than that reconstructed from the dimuon channel. With in-medium mass modifications of kaons and phi mesons, the phi yield from dimuons is further enhanced compared to that from the kaon-antikaon pairs. The model result is compared with the experimental data at the CERN/SPS and RHIC energies and its implications to quark-gluon plasma formation are discussed.Comment: Revised version, to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Electromagnetic probes of dense matter in heavy-ion collisions

Dilepton and photon production in heavy-ion collisions at SPS energies are studied in the relativistic transport model that incorporates self-consistently the change of hadron masses in dense matter. It is found that the dilepton spectra in proton-nucleus reactions can be well described by the conventional mechanism of Dalitz decay and direct vector meson decay. However, to provide a quantitative explanation of the observed dilepton spectra in central heavy-ion collisions requires contributions other than these direct decays and also various medium effects. Introducing a decrease of vector meson masses in hot dense medium, we find that these heavy-ion data can be satisfactorily explained. Furthermore, the single photon spectra in our calculations with either free or in-medium meson masses do not exceed the upper bound deduced from the experiments by the WA80 Collaboration.Comment: 8 pages, including 4 postscript figures. Talk presented at Sixth International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN97), Gatlinburg, June, 1997, to appear in the proceeding