Abstract
We report on a precision measurement of low-mass muon pairs in 158 AGeV indium-indium collisions at the CERN SPS. A significant excess of pairs is observed above the yield expected from neutral meson decays. The unprecedented sample size of 360□000 dimuons and the good mass resolution of about 2% allow us to isolate the excess by subtraction of the decay sources. The shape of the resulting mass spectrum is consistent with a dominant contribution from π+π-→ρ→μ+μ- annihilation. The associated space-time averaged ρ spectral function shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. This may rule out theoretical models linking hadron masses directly to the chiral condensate.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 162302 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue number | 16 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2006 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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