Dilepton production in heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies

Abstract

We present a unified description of the vector meson and dilepton production in elementary and in heavy ion reactions. The production of vector mesons ($ρ,ω$) is described via the excitation of nuclear resonances ($R$). The theoretical framework is an extended vector meson dominance model (eVMD). The treatment of the resonance decays $R\longmapsto NV$ with arbitrary spin is covariant and kinematically complete. The eVMD includes thereby excited vector meson states in the transition form factors. This ensures correct asymptotics and provides a unified description of photonic and mesonic decays. The resonance model is successfully applied to the $ω$ production in $p+p$ reactions. The same model is applied to the dilepton production in elementary reactions ($p+p, p+d$). Corresponding data are well reproduced. However, when the model is applied to heavy ion reactions in the BEVALAC/SIS energy range the experimental dilepton spectra measured by the DLS Collaboration are significantly underestimated at small invariant masses. As a possible solution of this problem the destruction of quantum interference in a dense medium is discussed. A decoherent emission through vector mesons decays enhances the corresponding dilepton yield in heavy ion reactions. In the vicinity of the $ρ/ω$-peak the reproduction of the data requires further a substantial collisional broadening of the $ρ$ and in particular of the $ω$ meson.

32 pages revtex, 19 figures, to appear in PRC