Lepton-pair production in nuclear collisions - past, present, future

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history, recent advances, and future prospects of lepton-pair production in nuclear collisions, highlighting key experimental results and theoretical developments from past to upcoming collider experiments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of lepton-pair production, emphasizing recent precision measurements and their implications for understanding thermal radiation and partonic matter in nuclear collisions.

Findings

First measurement of in-medium rho spectral function

Observation of transverse flow in thermal radiation

Possible evidence for partonic thermal radiation

Abstract

The key results on lepton-pair production in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions are shortly reviewed, starting at the roots of pp collisions in the seventies, and ending at the perspectives of the colliders RHIC and LHC. The presence is dominated by the recent precision results from NA60 at the CERN SPS, culminating in the first measurement of the in-medium rho spectral function and the transverse flow of the associated thermal radiation. The seeming cut-off of the flow above the rho may well be the first direct hint for thermal radiation of partonic origin in nuclear collisions. The major milestones in the theoretical developments are also covered.