The horn, the hadron mass spectrum and the QCD phase diagram - the statistical model of hadron production in central nucleus-nucleus collisions

TL;DR

This paper discusses an improved statistical model for hadron production in nucleus-nucleus collisions, highlighting the role of high-mass resonances and the sigma meson in better matching experimental data and exploring connections to the QCD phase diagram.

Contribution

The paper introduces an enhanced statistical model incorporating high-mass resonances and the sigma meson, improving data description and linking to the QCD phase diagram.

Findings

Better fit to the energy dependence of K+/pi+ ratio

Inclusion of high-mass resonances improves model accuracy

Discussion of the connection to the QCD phase diagram

Abstract

We present the status of the description of hadron production in central nucleus-nucleus collisions within the statistical model . The recent inclusion of very high-mass resonances and the sigma meson leads to an improved description of the data, in particular the energy dependence of the K+/pi+ ratio at SPS energies (``the horn''). The connection to the QCD phase diagram is discussed.