Transverse momentum spectra of dileptons measured by the NA60 Collaboration inIn+Incollisions at 158 GeV/nucleon

Abstract

Recently the NA60 Collaboration has reported the transverse mass spectra of dimuons coming from In-In collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon. The measured yields display a strong invariant mass dependence not typical of radial flow, suggesting that different sources contribute in different mass regions. We interpret the dimuon transverse mass spectra from an early thermalized partonic phase and hadronic phase constrained by the strictures of broken chiral symmetry. Each phase develops a specific transverse momentum dependence by hydrodynamical expansion. We show that a measurement of the momentum anisotropy at NA60 could provide information on the dominant emission source (hadronic or partonic) in the intermediate mass region $1.5\ensuremath{\leqslant}M\ensuremath{\leqslant}3.0$ GeV.