Dynamics and freeze-out of hadron resonances at RHIC.pdf

a r X i v : h e p - p h / 0 3 1 2 2 7 8 v 1 1 9 D e c 2 0 0 3 Dynamics and freeze-out of hadron resonances at RHIC Marcus Bleicher, Horst Sto?cker Institut fu?r Theoretische Physik, J. W. Goethe Universita?t, 60054 Frankfurt am Main, Germany Abstract. Yields, rapidity and transverse momentum spectra of ?++(1232), Λ(1520), Σ±(1385) and the meson resonancesK0(892), Φ, ρ0 and f0(980) are predicted. Hadronic rescattering leads to a suppression of reconstructable resonances, especially at low p⊥. A mass shift of the ρ of 10 MeV is obtained from the microscopic simulation, due to late stage ρ formation in the cooling pion gas. Dynamics and freeze-out of hadron resonances at RHIC 2 Strange particle yields and spectra are key probes to study excited nuclear matter and to detect the transition of (confined) hadronic matter to quark-gluon-matter (QGP)[1, 2]. The relative enhancement of strange and multi-strange hadrons, as well as hadron ratios in central heavy ion collisions with respect to peripheral or proton induced interactions have been suggested as a signature for the transient existence of a QGP-phase [2]. A main difficulty in the interpretation of the available data is that the observed final state hadrons carry relatively little information about their primordial sources. Most of the hadrons had been subject to many secondary interactions and are strongly influenced by the decays of high mass resonances. Recently, first direct experimental information on unstable particle emission in nucleus-nucleus reactions has been reported. At SPS [3], the Φ, K0(892) and Λ(1520) have been observed, at the full RHIC energy first data on the Φ, K0(892), f0 and ρ mesons and the Λ(1520) and Σ(1385) baryon resonances are available [4]. These data are obtained by the reconstruction of final state hadrons. Thus, in contrast to the study of ρ mesons by di-leptons (which are penetrating probes), it yields information mostly from the later stages of the reaction. Therefore, the quest