Can Binary Bound States in a Strongly Coupled Quark-Gluon Plasma be observed via dileptons and photons?

TL;DR

This paper explores the possibility of detecting bound states in a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma through dilepton and photon signals, challenging the traditional weakly interacting plasma model.

Contribution

It proposes experimental methods to identify bound states in quark-gluon plasma using penetrating probes like dileptons and photons, emphasizing the detection of specific spectral peaks.

Findings

Modified rho and omega peaks at ~0.5 GeV near T_c

Potential peaks at 1.5-2 GeV near (1.5-2)T_c

Discussion of scalar/pseudoscalar meson signals in two-photon channel

Abstract

Recently there was a significant change of views on physical properties and underlying dynamics of Quark-Gluon Plasma at $T=170-350 MeV$, produced in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. Instead of weakly coupled gas of quasiparticles, it is rather a liquid-like matter with multiple bound states. In this paper we discuss how one can test these ideas experimentally, using the ``penetrating probes'' and looking for certain peaks at some invariant masses. In dileptons the most promising are modified $\rho,\omega$, with $M(T\approx T_c)\sim .5 GeV$ and also near zero binding at $M(T\approx (1.5-2)T_c)=1.5-2 GeV$. We also discuss the observability of peaks corresponding to scalar/pseudoscalar mesons in the two-photon channel.