Understanding the $K^*/K$ ratio in heavy ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper models the evolution of the $K^*/K$ ratio in heavy ion collisions during the hadron gas phase, showing good agreement with experimental data by linking it to collision centrality and multiplicity.

Contribution

It introduces a method to predict the $K^*/K$ ratio based on hadron gas dynamics and empirical relations, connecting theoretical calculations with experimental observations.

Findings

The $K^*/K$ ratio can be expressed as a function of multiplicity density.

The model's predictions align well with recent experimental data.

The approach links freeze-out conditions to observable collision parameters.

Abstract

We study the $K^*$ meson dissociation in heavy ion collisions during the hadron gas phase. We use the production and absorption cross sections of the $K^*$ and $K$ mesons in a hadron gas, which were calculated in a previous work. We compute the time evolution of the $K^*$ abundance and the $K^* /K$ ratio during the hadron gas phase. Assuming a Bjorken type cooling and using an empirical relation between the freeze-out temperature and the central multiplicity density, we are able to write $K^* /K$ as a function of ($ dN /d \eta (\eta =0)$). The obtained function is in very good agreement with recent experimental data.