Dissociation of J/ψ by mesons: Thermal versus nonequilibrium scenario

We study J/ψ reaction kinetics in hadronic environments. The validity of a thermal meson gas ansatz is tested by confronting it with an alternative, nonequilibrium scenario. Heavy-ion collisions are simulated in the framework of the microscopic transport model, the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics model, taking into account the production of charmonium states through hard parton-parton interactions and subsequent rescattering with secondary hadrons assuming constant dissociation cross sections. The thermal gas and microscopic transport scenarios are shown to be very dissimilar. Estimates of J/ψ survival probabilities based on thermal models of co-mover interactions in heavy-ion collisions are therefore questionable.

Duke Scholars

Author Steffen A. Bass Physics