Significant in-medium reduction of the mass of eta' mesons in sqrt(s(NN)) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions

TL;DR

This study analyzes data from high-energy gold-gold collisions and finds that the mass of eta' mesons significantly decreases in the medium, indicating strong in-medium modifications.

Contribution

It provides evidence for a substantial in-medium reduction of eta' meson mass in heavy-ion collisions at 200 GeV, using Bose-Einstein correlation data and various hadronic models.

Findings

At least 200 MeV in-medium eta' mass decrease required by models

Analysis of Bose-Einstein correlations supports mass reduction

Results suggest strong in-medium modifications of meson properties

Abstract

PHENIX and STAR data on the intercept parameter of the two-pion Bose-Einstein correlation functions in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}= 200$ GeV Au+Au collisions were analysed in terms of various models of hadronic abundances. To describe these data, an in-medium $\eta^\prime$ mass decrease of at least 200 MeV was needed in each case.