Vector meson spectral function and dilepton production rate in a hot and dense medium within an effective QCD approach

TL;DR

This study investigates vector meson properties and dilepton production in hot, dense media using effective QCD models, revealing how interactions influence spectral functions and comparing results with lattice data.

Contribution

It introduces the first calculation of dilepton production rate in a PNJL model considering nonperturbative effects and vector interactions, enhancing understanding of medium modifications.

Findings

Vector mesons retain bound states above phase transition.

Dilepton rate is enhanced in PNJL compared to NJL and Born rates.

Isoscalar-vector interaction further increases dilepton production in low mass region.

Abstract

The properties of the vector meson current-current correlation function and its spectral representation are investigated in details with and without isoscalar-vector interaction within the framework of effective QCD approach, namely Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model and its Polyakov Loop extended version (PNJL), at finite temperature and finite density. The influence of the isoscalarvector interaction on the vector meson correlator is obtained using the ring resummation known as the Random Phase Approximation (RPA). The spectral as well as the correlation function in PNJL model show that the vector meson retains its bound property up to a moderate value of temperature above the phase transition. Using the vector meson spectral function we, for the first time, obtained the dilepton production rate from a hot and dense medium within the framework of PNJL model that takes into account the nonperturbative effect through the Polyakov Loop fields. The dilepton production rate in PNJL model is enhanced compared to NJL and Born rate in the deconfined phase due to the suppression of color degrees of freedom at moderate temperature. The presence of isoscalar-vector interaction further enhances the dileption rate over the Born rate in the low mass region. Further, we also have computed the Euclidean correlation function in vector channel and the conserved density fluctuation associated with temporal correlation function appropriate for a hot and dense medium. The dilepton rate and the Euclidean correlator are also compared with available lattice data and those quantities in PNJL model are found to agree well in certain domain.