25.75.-q Relativistic heavy-ion collisions (collisions induced by light ions studied to calibrate relativistic heavy-ion collisions should be classified under both 25.75.-q and sections 13 or 25 appropriate to the light ions)
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- J/ϕ (1)
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We consider J/ψ production in heavy ion collisions at RHIC energies in the statistical coalescence model with exact (canonical ensemble) charm conservation. Charm quark–antiquark pairs are assumed to be created in primary hard parton collisions, but open and hidden charm particles are formed at the hadronization stage according to the laws of statistical mechanics. The dependence of the J/ψ production on both the number of nucleon participants and the collision energy is studied. The model predicts J/ψ suppression for low energies, whereas at the highest RHIC energy the model reveals J/ψ enhancement.
Compelling evidence for the creation of a new form of matter has been claimed to be found in Pb+Pb collisions at SPS. We discuss the uniqueness of often proposed experimental signatures for quark matter formation in relativistic heavy ion collisions. It is demonstrated that so far none of the proposed signals like J/psi meson production/suppression, strangeness enhancement, dileptons, and directed flow unambigiously show that a phase of deconfined matter has been formed in SPS Pb+Pb collisions. We emphasize the need for systematic future measurements to search for simultaneous irregularities in the excitation functions of several observables in order to come close to pinning the properties of hot, dense QCD matter from data.