Evaluation of QCD sum rules for light vector mesons at finite density and temperature

Abstract:

QCD sum rules are evaluated at finite nucleon densities and temperatures to determine the change of mass parameters for the lightest vector mesons ρ, ω and φ in a strongly interacting medium. For conditions relevant for the starting experiments at HADES we find that the in-medium mass shifts of the ρ- and ω-mesons are governed, within the Borel QCD sum rule approach, by the density and temperature dependence of the four-quark condensate. In particular, the variation of the strength of the density dependence of the four-quark condensate reflects directly the decreasing mass of the ρ-meson and can lead to a change of the sign of the ω-meson mass shift as a function of the density. In contrast, the in-medium mass of the φ-meson is directly related to the chiral strange quark condensate which seems correspondingly accessible.