We study the structural change of the vector spectral function and integrated production rates of dileptons in the presence of the chiral mixing induced exclusively at finite density. The mixing produces multiple bumps and peaks around the vacuum masses of the $\rho, \omega$ and $\phi$ resonances in the spectral function. The arising modification becomes pronounced when the mass difference between parity partners decreases. In particular, the emergent enhancement around the vacuum $\phi$ meson in the production rates serves as an excellent signature of the partially-restored chiral symmetry in heavy-ion collisions.

Chihiro Sasaki

We explore the NJL model with Polyakov loops for a system of three colors and two flavors within the mean-field approximation, where both chiral symmetry and confinement are taken into account. We focus on the phase structure of the model and study the chiral and Polyakov loop susceptibilities.

C. Sasaki B. Friman K. Redlich

In the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with Polyakov loops, we explore the relation between the deconfinement and chiral phase transitions within the mean-field approximation. We focus on the phase structure of the model and study the susceptibilities associated with corresponding order parameters.

C. Sasaki B. Friman K. Redlich

We discuss the phase structure and fluctuations of conserved charges in two flavor QCD. The importance of the density fluctuations to probe the existence of the critical end point is summarized. The role of these fluctuations to identify the first order phase transition in the presence of spinodal phase separation is also discussed.

K. Redlich B. Friman C. Sasaki

We study the thermodynamics of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with Polyakov loops, where spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and confinement are taken into account. We focus on the phase structure of the model and explore the susceptibilities associated with corresponding order parameters under the mean-field approximation.

C. Sasaki B. Friman K. Redlich

We briefly summarize the properties of conserved charge fluctuations as a sensitive probe for the QCD phase transitions. We discuss the density fluctuations which play a significant role to search for the critical end point. The importance of spinodal instabilities to distinguish the first-order phase transition is also indicated.

C. Sasaki B. Friman K. Redlich

The thermodynamics of a first-order chiral phase transition is considered in the presence of spinodal phase separation using the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model in the mean field approximation. We focus on the behavior of conserved charge fluctuations. We show that in non-equilibrium the specific heat and charge susceptibilities diverge as the system crosses the isothermal spinodal lines.

C. Sasaki B. Friman K. Redlich

We discuss the importance of the axialvector meson in chiral phase transition at finite temperature. We show that there exists a significant contribution in the vector spectral function from the axialvector meson through the vector-axialvector mixing in hot matter.

C. Sasaki M. Harada W. Weise

The presence of baryonic matter leads to the mixing between transverse $\rho$ and $a_1$ mesons through a set of $\omega\rho a_1$-type interactions, which results in the modification to the dispersion relation. We show that a clear enhancement of the vector spectral function appears below $\sqrt{s}=m_\rho$ for small three-momenta of the $\rho$ meson, and thus the vector spectrum exhibits broadening. We also discuss its relevance to dilepton measurements.

M. Harada C. Sasaki

We present a systematic study of the vector--axial-vector mixing (V-A mixing) in the current correlation functions and its evolution with temperature within an effective field theory. The $a_1$-$\rho$-$\pi$ coupling vanishes at the critical temperature $T_c$ and thus the V-A mixing also vanishes. A remarkable observation is that even for finite $m_\pi$ the $\rho$ and $a_1$ meson masses are almost degenerate at $T_c$. The vanishing V-A mixing at $T_c$ stays approximately intact.

C. Sasaki M. Harada W. Weise