Probing the dissipative properties of a strongly interacting medium with dileptons

TL;DR

This paper studies how net baryon density and its diffusion influence dilepton production in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies, highlighting the role of baryon conductivity and potential for experimental insights.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of net baryon number diffusion and its conductivity on dilepton signals within a hydrodynamical model at BES energies, a novel aspect in this context.

Findings

Baryon diffusion affects dilepton yields and spectra.

Baryon conductivity influences dilepton production rates.

Future dilepton measurements can constrain baryon transport coefficients.

Abstract

We investigate the effects of the presence of a non-vanishing net baryon number density and its diffusion on dilepton production, within a hydrodynamical description of the medium created at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7$ GeV collision energy. This energy value is explored within the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Particular attention is devoted to a new dissipative degree of freedom: the net baryon number diffusion ($V^\mu$), and to the net baryon number conductivity ($\kappa$) | a transport coefficients governing the overall magnitude of $V^\mu$. The effects of $\kappa$ on dilepton production are assessed, with an outlook on how future experimental dilepton data can be used to learn more about $\kappa$.