Rate of photon production from hot hadronic matter

Abstract

Thermal photon emission rates from hot hadronic matter are studied to order $e^2{g}^4$, where $g$ indicates a strong-interaction coupling constant. Radiative decay of mesons, Compton and annihilation processes for hadrons, and bremsstrahlung reactions are all considered. Compared to the standard rates from the literature, one finds two orders of magnitude increase for low photon energies stemming mainly from bremsstrahlung and then a modest increase (factor of 2) for intermediate and high energy photons owing to radiative decays for a variety of mesons and from other reactions involving strangeness. These results could have important consequences for electromagnetic radiation studies at RHIC.

Comments: 5 pages LaTeX, 4 Postscript figures