Electromagnetic Radiation and in-Medium Effects

Abstract

The theory of thermal photon and dilepton emission from a hot and dense hadronic gas, as well as from the Quark-Gluon Plasma, is reviewed in the context of extracting in-medium properties of the matter constituents. In phenomenological applications to ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions we focus on recent photon and dilepton spectra as measured by WA98 and CERES/NA45, respectively, at CERN-SPS energies.

Comments: Based on invited talks at the European Graduate School Workshop (Giessen, Germany, Nov. 11-13, 2004) and at Hirschegg '05: "Probing QCD with High-Energy Nuclear Collisions" (Hirschegg, Austria, Jan. 16-22, 2005), to be publ. in Heavy-Ion Physics, 10 pages latex incl. 10 ps/eps figures and style file hiph-art.sty; CERES pt>0.1GeV data removed and text accordingly modified, references added