Direct lepton production in high-energy collisions of nuclei

Abstract

Direct lepton-pair production is a potentially efficient probe of quark matter formed in high-energy collisions of nuclei. Pair-production rates in the central rapidity region are estimated by means of a hydrodynamical model of the expansion of the hadron plasma. The rates are expected to be independent of rapidity in the central region and exhibit a characteristic enhancement if phase transition from hadron to quark matter takes place.