Hadron properties at finite temperature

TL;DR

This review summarizes theoretical and lattice-QCD studies on how hadron properties change at finite temperature, emphasizing implications for heavy-ion collision experiments.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent advances in understanding in-medium hadron modifications using effective theories, lattice calculations, and phenomenological models.

Findings

Thermal effects lead to mass shifts and width modifications in hadrons.

Chiral symmetry restoration influences light hadron properties at high temperature.

Lattice QCD provides key insights into screening masses and spectral functions.

Abstract

This review provides an overview of thermal effects on hadron properties, focusing on the theoretical frameworks used to describe in-medium modifications of masses, decay widths, and spectral functions. We examine the application of finite-temperature quantum field theory -- specifically the imaginary-time formalism (ITF) -- to analyze both light- and heavy-hadron sectors. For light hadrons, we discuss the role of chiral symmetry restoration and the different definitions of thermal masses in effective field theories, like chiral perturbation theory. In the heavy-flavor sector, we review recent progress in describing open-heavy mesons and quarkonia using self-consistent unitarized approaches and nonrelativistic effective field theories. All these results are complemented by analyses of recent lattice-QCD calculations using the Euclidean formulation of QCD at finite temperature, relevant to extract screening masses and reconstructed spectral functions. Finally, we discuss the phenomenological impact of the thermal modifications on experimental observables in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, including numerical simulations, dilepton spectra, transport coefficients, and hadron femtoscopy. By combining phenomenological considerations with robust theoretical tools, this review provides a coherent picture of how thermal effects emerge in the hadronic phase and how they can be systematically studied within controlled frameworks. Ultimately, the discussion serves as a bridge between experimental observations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions and fundamental developments in finite-temperature QCD and effective field theories for hadronic systems.