The dilepton probe in heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper reviews how dileptons serve as probes of the hot and dense medium created in heavy-ion collisions, linking experimental observations to theoretical models of in-medium hadron and parton properties and chiral symmetry restoration.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the current theoretical understanding of dilepton production and its connection to fundamental QCD phase transition phenomena in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Dileptons directly probe electromagnetic current-current correlators.

Theoretical models connect dilepton spectra to in-medium hadron modifications.

Insights into chiral phase transition are discussed.

Abstract

Dileptons provide direct observables of the electromagnetic current-current correlator in the hot and/or dense medium formed in heavy-ion collisions. In this article an overview is given about the status of the theoretical understanding of the dilepton phenomenology in heavy-ion collisions from studies of the in-medium properties of hadrons and partons within many-body theory and about connections to fundamental questions concerning the chiral phase transition.