%0 Journal Article
%T Why the $a_1$ meson might be a difficult messenger for the restoration of chiral symmetry
%A Vogel
%A Sascha
%A Bleicher
%A Marcus
%J High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
%D 2007
%I 
%R 10.1103/PhysRevC.78.064910
%X We perform a theoretical analysis of the $a_1$ resonance mass spectrum in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions within a hadron/string transport approach. Predictions for the $a_1$ yield and its mass distribution are given for the GSI-FAIR and the critRHIC energy regime. The potential of the $a_1$ meson as a signal for chiral symmetry restoration is explored. In view of the latest discussion, we investigate the decay channel $a_1 \to \gamma\pi$ in detail and find a strong bias towards low $a_1$ masses. This apparent mass shift of the $a_1$ if observed in the $\gamma\pi$ channel might render a possible mass shift due to chiral symmetry restoration very difficult to disentangle from the decay kinematics.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/0710.1158