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We present the basic ideas of the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach which is a microscopic covariant dynamical model for strongly interacting systems formulated on the basis of Kadanoff-Baym equations for Green's functions in phase-space representation (in 1st order gradient expansion beyond the quasi-particle approximation). The approach consistently describes the full evolution of a relativistic heavy-ion collision from the initial hard scatterings and string formation through the dynamical deconfinement phase transition to the strongly-interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) as well as hadronization and the subsequent interactions in the expanding hadronic phase. The PHSD approach has been applied to p+p, p+A and A+A collisions from lower SIS to LHC energies and been successful in describing a large number of experimental data including single-particle spectra, collective flow and electromagnetic probes. Some highlights of recent PHSD results will be presented., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the Indo-French Seminar on "Multi-fragmentation, collective flow and subthreshold partice production in heavy ion reactions", February 4-6 2019, Punjab University, Chandigarh, India

Direct photon spectra and elliptic flow v2 in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC energies are investigated within a relativistic transport approach incorporating both hadronic and partonic phases - the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD). The results suggest that a large v2 of the direct photons - as observed by the PHENIX Collaboration - signals a significant contribution of photons produced in interactions of secondary mesons and baryons in the late stages of the collision. In order to further differentiate the origin of the direct photon azimuthal asymmetry, we compare our predictions for the centrality dependence of the direct photon yield to the recent measurements by the PHENIX Collaboration and provide predictions for Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energies with respect to the direct photon spectra and v2(pT) for 0-40% centrality., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, talk at the XXII International Baldin Seminar on High Energy Physics Problems, 15-20 September, 2014, JINR, Dubna, Russia

The dynamics of partons and hadrons in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for the partonic phase (DQPM) including a dynamical hadronization scheme. The PHSD approach is applied to nucleus-nucleus collisions from low SPS to LHC energies. The traces of partonic interactions are found in particular in the elliptic flow of hadrons and in their transverse mass spectra. We investigate also the equilibrium properties of strongly-interacting infinite parton-hadron matter characterized by transport coefficients such as shear and bulk viscosities and the electric conductivity in comparison to lattice QCD results., 6 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of the STARS2013 and SMFNS2013 conferences, 4-10 May 2013, Havana/Varadero, Cuba

We study the collective flow of open charm mesons and charmonia in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV within the hadron-string-dynamics (HSD) transport approach. The detailed studies show that the coupling of $D,\bar{D}$ mesons to the light hadrons leads to comparable directed and elliptic flow as for the light mesons. This also holds approximately for $J/\Psi$ mesons since more than 50% of the final charmonia for central and mid-central collisions stem from $D+\bar{D}$ induced reactions in the transport calculations. The transverse momentum spectra of $D,\bar{D}$ mesons and $J/\Psi$'s are only very moderately changed by the (pre-)hadronic interactions in HSD which can be traced back to the collective flow generated by elastic interactions with the light hadrons., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Phys. Rev. C, in press

We calculate the centrality dependence of direct photons produced in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s}=200GeV and their transverse momentum spectra within the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach. As sources for 'direct' photons, we incorporate the interactions of quarks and gluons as well as hadronic interactions (pi+pi->rho+gamma, rho+pi->pi+gamma, meson-meson bremsstrahlung m+m->m+m+gamma, meson-baryon bremsstrahlung m+B->m+B+gamma), the decays of phi and a_1 mesons and the photons produced in the initial hard collisions ('pQCD'). We find that the pT spectra of the 'thermal' photons (i.e. the direct photons after the pQCD contribution is subtracted) deviate from exponential distributions and, consequently, observe a strong dependence of the inverse slope parameter T_eff on the fitting range in pT. On the other hand, all the obtained 'effective temperatures' are well above the critical temperature for the deconfinement phase transition even for peripheral collisions, reflecting primarily a 'blue shift' due to radial collective motion of hadrons. Our calculations suggest that the channel decomposition of the observed spectrum changes with centrality with an increasing (dominant) contribution of hadronic sources for more peripheral reactions. Furthermore, the thermal photon yield is found to scale roughly with the number of participant nucleons as N_part^alpha with alpha=1.5, whereas the partonic contribution scales with an exponent alpha_p=1.75. Additionally, we provide predictions for the centrality dependence of the direct photon elliptic flow v_2(pT). The direct photon $v_2$ is seen to be larger in peripheral collisions compared to the most central ones since the photons from the hot deconfined matter in the early stages of the collision carry a much smaller elliptic flow than the final hadrons., 8 pages, 7 plots, in the new version one plot is added (v2 in min bias collisions), discussion extended

We study e^+e^- pair production in proton-proton and central Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV within two models: an extended statistical hadronization model (SHM) and the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach. We find that the PHSD calculations roughly agree with the dilepton spectrum from hadronic sources with the 'cocktail' estimates from the statistical hadronization model matched to available data at LHC energies. The dynamical simulations within the PHSD show a moderate increase of the low mass dilepton yield essentially due to the in-medium modification of the rho-meson. Furthermore, pronounced traces of the partonic degrees of freedom are found in the PHSD results in the intermediate mass regime. The dilepton production from the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) exceeds that from the semi-leptonic decays of open charm and bottom mesons. Additionally, we observe that a transverse momentum cut of 1 GeV/c further suppresses the relative contribution of the heavy meson decays to the dilepton yield, such that the sQGP radiation strongly dominates the spectrum for masses from 1 to 3 GeV, allowing a closer look at the electromagnetic emissivity of the partonic plasma in the early phase of Pb+Pb collisions., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures

The dynamics of partons, hadrons and strings in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for partons (DQPM) matched to reproduce recent lattice-QCD results - including the partonic equation of state - in thermodynamic equilibrium. The transition from partonic to hadronic degrees of freedom is described by covariant transition rates for the fusion of quark-antiquark pairs or three quarks (antiquarks), respectively, obeying flavor current-conservation, color neutrality as well as energy-momentum conservation. The PHSD approach is applied to nucleus-nucleus collisions from low SIS to RHIC energies. The traces of partonic interactions are found in particular in the elliptic flow of hadrons as well as in their transverse mass spectra., Comment: To be published by Springer in Proceedings of the International Symposium on `Exciting Physics', Makutsi-Range, South Africa, 13-20 November, 2011

Dilepton production in In+In collisions at 158 AGeV is studied within the microscopic parton-hadron-string dynamics (PHSD) transport approach that incorporates explicit partonic degrees-of-freedom, dynamical hadronization as well as the more familiar hadronic dynamics in the final reaction stages. A comparison to the data of the NA60 Collaboration shows that the measured dilepton yield is well described by including the collisional broadening of vector mesons, while simultaneously accounting for the electromagnetic radiation of the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) via off-shell quark-antiquark annihilation, quark annihilation with additional gluon Bremsstrahlung and the gluon-Compton scattering mechanisms. In particular, the spectra in the intermediate mass range (1 GeV < M < 2.5 GeV) are dominated by quark-antiquark annihilation in the nonperturbative QGP. Also, the observed softening of the transverse mass spectra at intermediate masses (1 GeV < M < 2.5 GeV) is approximately reproduced. Furthermore, for dileptons of low masses (M < 0.6 GeV), we find a sizable contribution from the quark annihilation with additional gluon bremsstrahlung, thus providing another possible window for probing the properties of the sQGP., 16 pages, 14 figures

We address dilepton production in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV by employing the parton-hadron-string dynamics (PHSD) off-shell transport approach. Within the PHSD one goes beyond the quasiparticle approximation by solving generalized transport equations on the basis of the off-shell Kadanoff-Baym equations for the Green's functions in the phase-space representation. The approach consistently describes the full evolution of a relativistic heavy-ion collision from the initial hard scatterings and string formation through the dynamical deconfinement phase transition to the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) as well as hadronization and to the subsequent interactions in the hadronic phase. {With partons described in the PHSD by the dynamical quasiparticle model (DQPM) - matched to reproduce lattice QCD results in thermodynamic equilibrium} - we calculate, in particular, the dilepton radiation from partonic interactions through the reactions q+qbar->gamma^*, q+qbar->gamma^*+g and q+g->gamma^*+q (qbar+g->gamma^*+qbar) in the early stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. By comparing our results to the data from the PHENIX Collaboration, we study the relative importance of different dilepton production mechanisms and point out the regions in phase space where partonic channels are dominant. Furthermore, explicit predictions are presented for dileptons within the acceptance of the STAR detector system and compared to the preliminary data., 11 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1107.3402

We study dilepton production in proton-proton, Cu+Cu as well as in Au+Au collisions at the center-of-mass energy 200 GeV per participating nucleon pair within an extended statistical hadronization model. In extension to earlier studies we incorporate transport calculations for an estimate of uncorrelated e+e- -pairs from semileptonic D meson decays. While the invariant mass spectrum of dielectrons is well understood in the p+p collisions, severe discrepancies among different model scenarios based on hadronic degrees of freedom and recent data from the PHENIX Collaboration are found in heavy-ion collisions in the low mass region from 0.15 to 0.6 GeV as well as in the intermediate mass regime from 1.1 to 3 GeV when employing the standard dilepton sources. We investigate, furthermore, the background from correlated dileptons that are not emitted as a pair from a parent hadron but emerge from semileptonic decays of two correlated daughter hadrons. Our calculations suggest a sizeable contribution of such sources in central heavy-ion collisions in the low mass region. However, even the upper limits of our calculations are found to be far below the dilepton mass spectra of the PHENIX Collaboration., Comment: revised version, 17 pages, 13 figures

The transition from hadronic to partonic degrees of freedom in the course of a relativistic heavy-ion collision is described by the microscopic covariant Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach. Studying Pb+Pb reactions from 40 to 158 AGeV and comparing the PHSD results to those of the Hadron-String Dynamics (HSD) approach without a phase transition to the QGP, we observe that the existence of the partonic phase has a sizable influence on the transverse mass distribution of final kaons due to the repulsive partonic mean fields. Furthermore, we find a significant effect of the QGP on the production of multi-strange antibaryons due to a slightly enhanced ssbar pair production in the partonic phase from massive time-like gluon decay and to a more abundant formation of strange antibaryons in the hadronization process. Another evidence for pre-hadronization dynamics is gained from a study of di-jet correlations in Au+Au collisions at the top RHIC energy of sqrt(S)=200 GeV. Within the HSD transport approach, the reaction of the hadronic medium to the jet energy loss is calculated. In comparison with the data of the STAR, PHOBOS and PHENIX Collaborations differentially in azimuthal angle and pseudorapidity, the HSD results do not show enough suppression for the `away-side' jet. In addition, the HSD results exhibit neither a `Mach-cone' structure for the angular distribution in the away-side jet nor the `ridge' long-range rapidity correlations for the near-side jet as observed by the STAR and PHOBOS Collaborations, thus suggesting a partonic origin of these structures., Comment: Proceedings of the international workshop "Dense Matter 2010", 5-10 April 2010, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. To be published in Particles and Nuclei Letters A: Heavy Ions. 8 pages, 5 figures

The K0 meson production by pi- mesons of 1.15 GeV/c momentum on C, Al, Cu, Sn and Pb nuclear targets was measured with the FOPI spectrometer at the SIS accelerator of GSI. Inclusive production cross-sections and the momentum distributions of K0 mesons are compared to scaled elementary production cross-sections and to predictions of theoretical models describing the in-medium production of kaons. The data represent a new reference for those models, which are widely used for interpretation of the strangeness-production in heavy-ion collisions. The presented results demonstrate the sensitivity of the kaon production to the reaction amplitudes inside nuclei and point to the existence of a repulsive KN-potential of 20+-5 MeV at normal nuclear matter density., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. References corrected. Minor corrections in text and author list. Figure 3 corrected. Corrections in body and abstract after comments from the referees

The formation and suppression dynamics of J/Psi, Chi_c and Psi-Prime mesons is studied within the HSD transport approach for Au+Au reactions at the top RHIC energy of sqrt(S)=200 GeV. Two prominent models, which have been discussed for more than a decade, are incorporated, i.e. the 'hadronic comover absorption and reformation' model as well as the 'QGP threshold' scenario, and compared to available experimental data. Our studies demonstrate that both scenarios - compatible with experimental observation at SPS energies - fail severely at RHIC energies. This combined analysis - together with the underestimation of charm elliptic flow - proves that the dynamics of c, c-bar quarks are dominated by partonic interactions in the strong QGP (sQGP) and can neither be modeled by 'hadronic' interactions nor described appropriately by color screening alone., 4 pages, 2 figures

We calculate $p, \pi^\pm, K^\pm$ and $\Lambda$(+$\Sigma^0$) rapidity distributions and compare to experimental data from SIS to SPS energies within the UrQMD and HSD transport approaches that are both based on string, quark, diquark ($q, \bar{q}, qq, \bar{q}\bar{q}$) and hadronic degrees of freedom. The two transport models do not include any explicit phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). It is found that both approaches agree rather well with each other and with the experimental rapidity distributions for protons, $\Lambda$'s, $\pi^\pm$ and $K^\pm$. Inspite of this apparent agreement both transport models fail to reproduce the maximum in the excitation function for the ratio $K^+/\pi^+$ found experimentally between 11 and 40 A$\cdot$GeV. A comparison to the various experimental data shows that this 'failure' is dominantly due to an insufficient description of pion rapidity distributions rather than missing 'strangeness'. The modest differences in the transport model results -- on the other hand -- can be attributed to different implementations of string formation and fragmentation, that are not sufficiently controlled by experimental data for the 'elementary' reactions in vacuum., Comment: 46 pages, including 15 eps figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. C

We investigate hadron attenuation in deep-inelastic lepton scattering off complex nuclei in the kinematic regime of the HERMES experiment. Our transport theoretical simulations reveal strong prehadronic final state interactions of the reaction products with the surrounding nuclear medium early after the initial photon-nucleon interaction has taken place. In this work we compare our model results with the measured hadron multiplicity ratios for a Kr target at HERMES and provide an extended discussion of the double-hadron attenuation recently observed at HERMES., 10 pages, 4 figures, To appear in the Proceedings of the 43rd International Winter Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Bormio, Italy, 13 Mar - 20 Mar 2005

We investigate the attenuation of hadrons in deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering in the kinematical regime of the HERMES and Jefferson Lab experiments. The calculation is carried out in the framework of a BUU transport model. Our results indicate a strong influence of (pre)hadronic final state interactions on the observed multiplicity ratios., 8 pages, 4 figures, Contribution to the "Workshop on In-Medium Hadron Physics", Giessen, Germany, 11-13 November 2004

Using the Quark-Gluon Strings Model -- combined with Regge phenomenology -- we perform a comparative analysis of $��$, $��^0$, $��(1520)$ and $��^+$ production in binary reactions induced by photon, pion and proton beams on the nucleon. We find that the existing experimental data on the $��p \to K^+ ��$ differential and total cross sections can be described very well by the model for photon energies $1 - 16$ GeV and $-t < 2$ GeV$^2$ assuming a dominant contribution of the $K^*$ Regge trajectory. Moreover, using the same parameters we also reproduce the total $��p \to K^+ ��^0$ and $��p \to K^+ ��(1520)$ cross sections suggesting a 'universality' of the Regge model. In order to check the consistency of the approach we evaluate the differential and total cross sections for the reaction $��^- p \to K^0 ��$ which is also found to be dominated by the $K^*$ Regge trajectory. Using the apparent 'universality' of the Regge model we extend our scheme to the analysis of the binary reactions $��p \to \bar{K}^0 ��^+$, $��^- p \to K^- ��^+$ and $pp \to ��^+ ��^+$ as well as the exclusive and inclusive $��^+$ production in the reactions $pp \to p \bar{K}^0 ��^+$ and $pp \to ��^+ X$. Our detailed studies demonstrate that $��^+$ production does not follow the 'universality' principle thus suggesting an essentially different internal structure of the exotic baryon relative to conventional hyperons or hyperon resonances., 11 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J. A

Recently we have conjectured that (in-)elastic collisions of (pre-)hadronic high momentum states with the bulk of hadrons in the late fireball might substantially account for the attenuation of the high transverse momentum hadrons at RHIC. The potential hadronic attenuation has therefore to be addressed in further detail before definite conclusions on possible QCD effects in a deconfined QGP phase can be drawn with respect to the materializing jets. From our transport studies we find that the interactions of fully formed hadrons are practically negligible in central Au+Au collisions at \sqrt s = 200 GeV for $p_\perp\geq 6 GeV$, but have some importance for the shape of the ratio $R_{AA}$ at lower $p_\perp$ ($\leq 6 GeV$). However, a significant part of the large suppression seen experimentally is attributed to inelastic interactions of 'leading' jet-like pre-hadrons with the dense hadronic environment. In addition, we also show within this scenario first (preliminary) results of near-side and far-side correlations of high $p_\perp$ particles from central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV. It turns out that the near-side correlations are unaltered -- in accordance with experiment -- whereas the far-side correlations are suppressed by $\sim$ 60%. Since the experimental observation is a nearly complete disappearance of the far-side jet there should be some additional and earlier partonic interactions in the dense and possibly colored medium., 8 Latex pages including 10 eps figures and IOP style files. Talk given at the 17th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Quark Matter 2004, Oakland, CA USA, 11-17 Jan 2004. To appear in J. Phys. G

Using an effective Lagrangian approach as well as the Quark-Gluon Strings Model we analyze near-threshold production of a0(980)-mesons in the reaction NN -> d K \bar{K} as well as the background of non-resonant K\bar{K}-pair production. We argue that the reaction pp -> d K^+ \bar{K}^0 at an energy release Q, 14 pages, 12 figures, submitted to EPJ A

We solve the Kadanoff-Baym equations for nonequilibrium initial configurations of the $��^4$-theory in 2+1 dimensions and compare to explicit solutions of generalized transport equations for the same theory. The latter transport equations are derived from the Kadanoff-Baym equation in a first order gradient expansion in phase space and explicitly retain the off-shell dynamics as inherent in the time-dependent spectral functions. The solutions of these equations compare very well with the exact solutions of the full Kadanoff-Baym equations with respect to the occupation numbers of the individual modes, the spectral evolution as well as the chemical equilibration process. Furthermore, the proper equilibrium off-shell distribution is reached for large times contrary to the quasiparticle Boltzmann limit. We additionally present a direct comparison of the solution of the generalized transport equations in the Kadanoff-Baym and Botermans-Malfliet form; both solutions are found to agree very well with each other., 43 pages, LaTex, including 15 postscript figures, submitted to Nucl. Phys. A

In this article we study the time evolution of an interacting field theoretical system, i.e. \phi^4-field theory in 2+1 space-time dimensions, on the basis of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for a spatially homogeneous system including the self-consistent tadpole and sunset self-energies. We find that equilibration is achieved only by inclusion of the sunset self-energy. Simultaneously, the time evolution of the scalar particle spectral function is studied for various initial states. We also compare associated solutions of the corresponding Boltzmann equation to the full Kadanoff-Baym theory. This comparison shows that a consistent inclusion of the spectral function has a significant impact on the equilibration rates only if the width of the spectral function becomes larger than 1/3 of the particle mass. Furthermore, based on these findings, the conventional transport of particles in the on-shell quasiparticle limit is extended to particles of finite life time by means of a dynamical spectral function A(X,\vec{p},M^2). The off-shell propagation is implemented in the Hadron-String-Dynamics (HSD) transport code and applied to the dynamics of nucleus-nucleus collisions., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures to appear in "Nonequilibrium at short time scales - Formation of correlations", edited by K. Morawetz, Springer, Berlin (2003), p162

The quantum time evolution of \phi^4-field theory for a spatially homogeneous system in 2+1 space-time dimensions is investigated numerically for out-of-equilibrium initial conditions on the basis of the Kadanoff-Baym equations including the tadpole and sunset self-energies. Whereas the tadpole self-energy yields a dynamical mass, the sunset self-energy is responsible for dissipation and an equilibration of the system. In particular we address the dynamics of the spectral (`off-shell') distributions of the excited quantum modes and the different phases in the approach to equilibrium described by Kubo-Martin-Schwinger relations for thermal equilibrium states. The investigation explicitly demonstrates that the only translation invariant solutions representing the stationary fixed points of the coupled equation of motions are those of full thermal equilibrium. They agree with those extracted from the time integration of the Kadanoff-Baym equations in the long time limit. Furthermore, a detailed comparison of the full quantum dynamics to more approximate and simple schemes like that of a standard kinetic (on-shell) Boltzmann equation is performed. Our analysis shows that the consistent inclusion of the dynamical spectral function has a significant impact on relaxation phenomena. The different time scales, that are involved in the dynamical quantum evolution towards a complete thermalized state, are discussed in detail. We find that far off-shell 1 3 processes are responsible for chemical equilibration, which is missed in the Boltzmann limit. Finally, we address briefly the case of (bare) massless fields. For sufficiently large couplings $\lambda$ we observe the onset of Bose condensation, where our scheme within symmetric \phi^4-theory breaks down., Comment: 77 pages, 26 figures

The isospin and strangeness dimensions of the Equation of State are explored. RIA and the SIS200 accelerator at GSI will allow to explore these regions in compressed baryonic matter. $^{132}$Sn+$^{132}$Sn and $^{100}$Sn+$^{100}$Sn collisions as well as the excitation functions of $K/\pi$, $\Lambda/\pi$ and the centrality dependence of charmonium suppression from the UrQMD and HSD transport models are presented and compared to data. Unambiguous proof for the creation of a 'novel phase of matter' from strangeness and charm yields is not in sight., Comment: Proceedings of the ISPUN 02. 8 pp, 6 figs

Using the Quark-Gluon Strings Model (QGSM) combined with Regge phenomenology we consider the reactions $��^- p \to K^0 ��$ and $��^- p \to D^- ��_c^+$ which are dominated by the contributions of the $K^*$ and $D^*$ Regge trajectories, respectively. The spin structure of the amplitudes is described by introducing Reggeized Born terms. It is found that the existing data for the reaction $��^- p \to K^0 ��$ are in reasonable agreement with the model predictions. To describe the absolute values of the cross sections it is necessary to introduce also suppression factors which can be related to absorption corrections. Furthermore, assuming the SU(4) symmetry to hold for Regge residues and the universality of absorption corrections we calculate the cross section of the reaction $��^- p \to D^- ��_c^+$. Employing the latter results from $��^- p$ reactions we then estimate the contributions of the pion exchange mechanism to the cross sections of the reactions $NN \to NK��$ and $NN \to N\bar D ��_c$ and compare them with the contributions of the $K$ and $D$ exchanges. We find that the $NN$ reactions are dominated not by pion exchange but by $K$ and $D$ exchanges, respectively. Moreover, assuming the SU(4) symmetry to hold approximately for the coupling constants $g_{ND ��_c}$ = $g_{NK ��}$ we analyze also the production of leading $��_c$ hyperons in the reaction $NN \to ��_c X$. It is shown that the non-perturbative mechanism should give an essential contribution to the $��_c$ yield for $x \geq 0.5$., 3 pages, LaTeX, 4 postscript figures; contribution to QNP2002, Juelich, June 10-14, 2002

We study the perspectives of resonant and nonresonant charmed meson production in $\bar{p} + A$ reactions within the Multiple Scattering Monte Carlo (MSMC) approach. We calculate the production of the resonances $\Psi(3770), \Psi(4040)$ and $\Psi(4160)$ on various nuclei, their propagation and decay to $D, \bar{D}, D^*, \bar{D}^*, D_s, \bar{D}_s$ in the medium and vacuum, respectively. The modifications of the open charm vector mesons in the nuclear medium are found to be rather moderate or even small such that dilepton spectroscopy will require an invariant mass resolution of a few MeV. Furthermore, the elastic and inelastic interactions of the open charm mesons in the medium are taken into account, which can be related to $(u,d)$-, $s$- or $c$-quark exchange with nucleons. It is found that by studying the $D/\bar{D}$ ratio for low momenta in the laboratory ($\leq 2-2.2$ GeV/c) as a function of target mass $A$ stringent constraints on the $c$-quark exchange cross section can be obtained. On the other hand, the ratios $D^-_s/D^+_s$ as well as $D/D^-_s$ and $D/D^+_s$ at low momenta as a function of $A$ will permit to fix independently the strength of the $s$-quark exchange reaction in $D^-_s N$ scattering., Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, including 9 postscript figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. A

We consider near-threshold $a_0(980)$-meson production in $��N$ and $NN$ collisions. An effective Lagrangian approach with one-pion exchange is applied to analyze different contributions to the cross section for different isospin channels. The Reggeon exchange mechanism is also evaluated for comparison. The results from $��N$ reactions are used to calculate the contribution of the $a_0$ meson to the cross sections and invariant $K \bar K$ mass distributions of the reactions $pp\to pn K^+\bar K^0$ and $pp\to pp K^+K^-$. It is found that the experimental observation of $a_0^+$ mesons in the reaction $pp\to pn K^+\bar K^0$ is much more promising than the observation of $a_0^0$ mesons in the reaction $pp\to pp K^+K^-$. Effects of isospin violation in the reactions $pN \to d a_0$, $pd \to \mathrm{^3He/^3H} a_0$, and $ dd \to \mathrm{^4He} a_0$, which are induced by $a_0(980)$--$f_0(980)$ mixing, are also analyzed., 43 pages, including 16 eps figures, to be bublished in Phys. Atom. Nucl. (Yad. Fiz.) vol. 65, No. 11 (2002)

We study the perspectives of resonant charmonium production in $\bar{p} + A$ reactions within the Multiple Scattering Monte Carlo (MSMC) approach. We calculate the production of the resonances $\Psi(2S)$ and $\Psi(3770)$ on various nuclei, their propagation and decay to dileptons and $D+ \bar{D}$ in the medium and vacuum, respectively, employing parametrizations for the $D,\bar{D}$ self energies taken from QCD sum rule studies. The elastic and inelastic interactions of the charmonia and open charm mesons in the medium are taken into account, too. It is found that the $D, \bar{D}$ invariant mass spectra from light and heavy nuclei are not sufficiently sensitive to the in-medium properties of the $\Psi(2S)$ and $\Psi(3770)$. However, a 'suppression' of low mass dileptons from the $\Psi(3770)$ might be seen experimentally as well as a small broadening of the $\Psi(2S)$ dilepton spectra., Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, including 9 postscript figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. A

The lifetime of the Lambda hyperon in heavy hypernuclei as measured by the COSY-13 Collaboration in proton - Au, Bi and U collisions has been analysed to yield tau(Lambda) = (145 +- 11) ps. This value for tau(Lambda) is compatible with the lifetime extracted from antiproton annihilation on Bi and U targets, however, much more accurate. We find that the dependence of the lifetime tau(Lambda) on the mass of hypernuclei indicates a violation of the phenomenological Delta I = 1/2 rule known from the weak mesonic decays of strange particles. PACS: {13.30.-a}{Decays of baryons} {13.75.Ev}{Hyperon-nucleon interaction} {21.80}{Hypernuclei} {25.80.Pw}{Hyperon-induced reactions}, 21 pages, 11 PostScript figures, EPJA in print

K+ meson production in pA (A = C, Cu, Au) collisions has been studied using the ANKE spectrometer at an internal target position of the COSY-Juelich accelerator. The complete momentum spectrum of kaons emitted at forward angles, theta < 12 degrees, has been measured for a beam energy of T(p)=1.0 GeV, far below the free NN threshold of 1.58 GeV. The spectrum does not follow a thermal distribution at low kaon momenta and the larger momenta reflect a high degree of collectivity in the target nucleus., 4 pages, 3 figures

The nonmesonic decay of the Lambda hyperon has been investigated by observation of delayed fission from heavy hypernuclei produced in proton-U collisions at Tp = 1.9 GeV. The lifetime of heavy hypernuclei with masses A approximately 220 obtained in the present work, i.e. tau = 138 +- 6 (stat.) +-m 17 (syst.) ps, is the most accurate result for heavy hypernuclei produced in proton and antiproton induced collisions on a U target so far. PACS: {13.30.-a}{Decays of baryons} {13.75.Ev}{Hyperon-nucleon interaction} {21.80}{Hypernuclei} {25.80.Pw}{Hyperon-induced reactions}, Comment: 16 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses file appolb.cls (included), submitted to Acta Physica Polonica B, http://th-www.if.uj.edu.pl/acta

It is demonstrated that f_0-a_0 mixing can lead to a comparatively large isospin violation in the reactions pN -> da_0, pd -> ^3He/^3H a_0 and dd -> ^4He a_0 close to the corresponding production thresholds. The observation of such mixing effects is possible, e.g., by measuring the forward-backward asymmetry in the reaction pn -> d a_0^0 -> d eta pi^0., 14 pages, 5 figures

We study dilepton production from pp, pd and p Be collisions from 1 - 5 GeV including the $\pi^0$, $\eta$, $\omega$ and $\Delta$ Dalitz decays, direct decays of vector mesons ($\rho$, $\omega$) as well as subthreshold $\rho$ production via baryonic resonances (e.g. $D_{13}(1520), P_{11}(1710)$). Our calculations compare rather well with the pp and pd data from the DLS Collaboration, however, overestimate slightly the 'old' p Be data from that group. Futhermore, detailed predictions for differential dilepton spectra at SIS energies are made with a high mass resolution that can be controlled experimentally by the HADES Collaboration in near future., Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX, including 13 postscript figures, to be published in Nucl. Phys. A

The production and decay of vector mesons ($\rho, \omega$) in $pA$ reactions at COSY energies is studied with particular emphasis on their in-medium spectral functions. It is explored within transport calculations, if hadronic in-medium decays like $\pi^+\pi^-$ or $\pi^0 \gamma$ might provide complementary information to their dilepton ($e^+e^-$) decays. Whereas the $\pi^+ \pi^-$ signal from the $\rho$-meson is found to be strongly distorted by pion rescattering, the $\omega$-meson Dalitz decay to $\pi^0 \gamma$ appears promising even for more heavy nuclei. The perspectives of scalar meson ($f_0, a_0$) production in $pp$ reactions are investigated within a boson-exchange model indicating that the $f_0$-meson might hardly be detected in these collisions in the $K \bar{K}$ or $\pi \pi$ decay channels whereas the exclusive channel $pp \to d a_0^+$ looks very promising., Comment: invited talk presented at MESON2000, Cracow, May 2000; to appear in Acta Phys. Pol. B

The nuclear equation of state (EoS) is investigated by flow phenomena in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, both in transverse and radial direction, in comparison to experimental data from 150 A MeV to 11 A GeV. To this aim the collective dynamics of the nucleus-nucleus collision is described within a transport model of the coupled channel RBUU type. There are two factors which dominantly determine the baryon flow at these energies: the momentum dependence of the scalar ($U_S$) and vector potentials ($U_\mu$) for baryons and the resonance/string degrees of freedom for energetic hadron excitations. We fix the explicit momentum dependence of the nucleon-meson couplings by the nucleon optical potential up to 1 GeV and extrapolate to higher energy. When assuming the optical potential to vanish identically for $E_{kin} \geq 3.5$ GeV we simultaneously describe the sideward flow data of the PLASTIC BALL, FOPI, EoS and E877 collaborations, the elliptic flow data of the E895 and E877 collaborations and approximately the rapidity and transverse mass distribution of protons at AGS energies without employing any {\it explicit} assumption on a phase transition in the EoS. However, the gradual change from hadronic to string degrees of freedom with increasing bombarding energy can be viewed as a transition from {\it hadronic} to {\it string} matter, i.e. a dissolution of hadrons at high energy density., Comment: Invited talk presented at the XXVI Mazurian Lakes School of Physics, Krzyze, Poland, Sep. 1999; to appear in Acta Phys. Pol. B

We briefly review the dilepton experiments at BEVALAC/SIS and SPS energies for p+p, p+A and A+A collisions as well as our present understanding of the data within transport theoretical simulations. Since dileptons from p+A and A+A collisions in particular probe the in-medium spectral functions of vector mesons, a novel semiclassical off-shell transport approach is introduced on the basis of the Kadanoff-Baym equations that describes the dynamical evolution of broad hadron spectral functions. The implications of the off-shell dynamics -- relative to the conventional on-shell transport dynamics -- are discussed for proton spectra, high energy $\gamma$, pion, kaon and antikaon production from GANIL to AGS energies in comparison to experimental data., Comment: 9 pages, LaTex; Invited talk presented at the 'International Workshop XXVIII on Gross Properties of Nuclei and Nuclear Excitations', Hirschegg, 16-22.01.2000

We study the antikaon potential at finite momentum for proton and neutron nuclear matter. Our approach is based on the momentum dependence of the real part of the total $K^-N$ scattering amplitude, which is fixed in free space by experimental data, using the dispersion relation approach. We decompose the contributions to the scattering amplitude from different processes and consider the $\Lambda$(1405) and $\Sigma$(1385) to be dissolved in nuclear matter at density $\rho_0$. Within this approach the $K^-$ potential is found to be attractive up to high kaon momenta. Our result is in line with the data on the antikaon potential evaluated from the analysis of kaonic atoms (low momenta), heavy-ion (interdmediate momenta) and proton-nucleus (high momenta) collisions., Comment: 5 pages, espcrc2, including 4 ps-figures

We analyse the experimental data on near threshold $\pi$, $\eta$, $\omega$, $\eta'$ and $K^+$ production from $pp$ collisions and show that all information gained so far is compatible with approximately constant production matrix elements when including the rescattering between the baryons in the final states. Different methods to include the final state interactions are discussed and their range of validity is indicated. We, furthermore, show that Dalitz plots for the proton-meson invariant mass spectra at different energies should be suited to distinguish between final state interactions and resonant production amplitudes., Comment: 18 pages, fbssuppl-style, including 12 ps-figures

We present a dynamical study of $e^+e^-$ production in $\pi^-$A reactions at 1.3 and 1.7 GeV on the basis of the Coupled-Channel-BUU approach. The contributions from vector mesons ($\rho,\omega$) are calculated taking into account the collisional broadening effect and are compared to background sources in the dilepton spectrum from the Dalitz decays of $\omega$ and $\eta$ mesons produced in the reaction. Two possible scenarios for the medium modifications of the vector mesons are investigated, i.e. the 'dropping mass' scheme for the $\rho$ and $\omega$ and a momentum dependent $\rho$-meson spectral function that includes the polarization of the $\rho$-meson due to resonant $\rho -N$ scattering., Comment: 31 pages, ReVTeX, including 8 postscript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. C

The available data on $��$ and $��$ production from $��N$ and $pp$ collisions are reanalyzed with respect to an OZI rule violation on the basis of transition matrix elements. The data are found to be compatible with a constant ratio $R$ up to excess energies $��{\approx}300$ MeV, however, the ratio $R$ deviates substantially from the SU(3) prediction based on the present knowledge of the $��-��$ mixing angle., 6 pages, svjour-style, including 10 ps-figures

We explore the possibility to measure the elastic and inelastic $��N$ cross section in $p{+}d{\to}d{+}��{+}p_{sp}$ and $p{+}A$ reactions. Our studies indicate that the elastic scattering cross sections can be determined for $��$ momenta above 1 GeV/c in $p{+}d$ reactions by gating on high proton spectator momenta whereas the $��N$ absorption cross section down to low relative $��$ momenta is most effectively studied in $p{+}A$ reactions at beam energies 2.0--2.7 GeV, 7 pages, svjour-style, including 9 ps-figures

The proton - charged pion correlated emission is studied in the reactions Au (1.06 AGeV) + Au, Ni (1.06 and 1.93 AGeV) + Ni and Ni (1.97 AGeV) + Cu within the BUU approach. The associated invariant mass distributions are shifted to smaller energies with respect to the free $��(1232)$ mass distribution due to kinematical reasons. We find that the existing and partly conflicting experimental data do not allow to draw definite conclusions on the in-medium modification of the $��(1232)$., 22 pages of text, 15 figures

We extract the antikaon potential from differential data on elastic $K^-A$ scattering within Glauber theory at an antikaon momentum of 800 MeV/c. The $K^-N$ cross section at densities up to 0.1 $fm^3$ is found to be close to the value given in free space $K^-p$ and $K^-n$ interactions (averaged over the number of protons and neutrons) whereas the ratio $\alpha$ of the real to imaginary part of the forward scattering amplitude $f(0)$ differs from the ratio $\alpha$ in free space indicating a dropping of $Re f(0)$ at finite nuclear density. The extrapolated $K^-$ potential at a momentum of 0.8 GeV/c amounts to $\approx $--28 MeV at density $\rho_0$ which is substantially less than the values extracted from kaonic atoms at zero momentum or heavy-ion data at 300 MeV/c${\leq}p_K{\leq}$600 MeV/c. We, furthermore, investigate the perspectives of scattering experiments on $^{12}C$ at low ($\approx$300 MeV/c) and high ($\approx$1.2 GeV/c) momenta., Comment: 11 pages, revtex, including 14 ps-figures

It is shown that the mass dependence of the $��$-lifetime in heavy hypernuclei is sensitive to the ratio of neutron-induced to proton-induced non-mesonic decay rates R_n/R_p. A comparison of the experimental mass dependence of the lifetimes with the calculated ones for different values of R_n/R_p leads to the conclusion that this ratio is larger than 2 on the confidence level of 0.75. This suggests that the phenomenological $��$I=1/2 rule might be violated for the nonmesonic decay of the $��$-hyperon., 3 pages, 2 figures, to be published in European Physical Journal A

The properties of $\pi, \eta, K^+$ and $K^-$ mesons are studied in nuclear reactions from SIS to SPS energies within the covariant transport approach HSD in comparison to the experimental data. Whereas the pion, $\eta$ and kaon abundancies and spectra indicate little or vanishing selfe-nergies for these mesons in the medium, antikaons (as well as antiprotons) are found to experience strong attractive potentials in nucleus-nucleus collisions at SIS energies. However, even when including these potentials the $K^+$ and $K^-$ spectra at AGS energies are noticeably underestimated showing an experimental excess of strangeness that points towards a nonhadronic phase in these reactions. On the other hand the $K^+, K^-$ production at SPS energies is well described by the hadronic approach without incorporating any parton degrees of freedom., Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, including 5 postscript figures and appb.sty; Talk presented at the Workshop on 'The Structure of Mesons, Baryons and Nuclei', Cracow, May 1998, to be published in Acta Physica Polonica B

We analyse the $pp \to p \Lambda K$ cross section recently measured at COSY arguing that the enhancement of the production cross section at energies close to the reaction threshold should be due to the $\Lambda p$ final state interaction. We find that the experimental $\Lambda p$ elastic scattering data as well as the predictions from the J\"ulich-Bonn model are in reasonable agreement with the new results on $K^+$-meson production. We propose to study directly the final state interaction by measurements of the cross section as a function of the hyperon momentum in the $\Lambda p$ cm system., Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, including 5 ps-figures, UGI-98-7

The cross sections of the reaction $pp \to N K Y$ for $K^+$ or $K^0$ mesons and $\Lambda$ or $\Sigma$ hyperons are calculated within the boson exchange model including pion and kaon exchange diagrams. We analyze the dependence of the results on the accuracy of the input $\pi N$ amplitude. By fixing the $\pi NN $ coupling constant and the cut-off parameter ${\Lambda}_{\pi}$ at the $\pi NN$ vertex we calculate the contribution from the kaon exchange diagram and obtain the ratio of the $KN \Lambda $ and $KN \Sigma $ coupling constants by a fit to the experimental data. This ratio is in a good agreement with the SU(6) prediction. Our calculated total cross sections for the different reaction channels are fitted by simple expressions and compared with other parameterizations used in the literature. Furthermore, the gross features of the production cross section close to threshold are discussed., Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, including 14 ps-figures

We calculate the baryon flow $< P_x/A(y) >$ in the energy range from .25 to $\le 2.5 AGeV$ in a relativistic transport model for $Ni+Ni$ and $Au+Au$ collisions employing various models for the baryon self energies. We find that to describe the flow data of the FOPI Collaboration the strength of the vector potential has to be reduced at high relative momentum or at high density such that the Schr��dinger- equivalent potential at normal nuclear density decreases above 1 GeV relative kinetic energy and approaches zero above 2 GeV., 20 pages, LATEX, 7 PostScript figures

We study the production of $c \bar{c}$ pairs and dimuons from hard collisions in nuclear reactions within the covariant transport approach HSD. Adopting 6 mb for the $c \bar{c}$-baryon cross section the data on $J/\Psi$ suppression in p + A reactions are reproduced in line with calculations based on the Glauber model. Furthermore, using $J/\Psi$ absorption cross sections with mesons above the $D\bar{D}$ threshold in the order of 1.5 - 3 mb we find that all data on $J/\Psi$ suppression from NA38/NA50 can be described without assuming the formation of a quark-gluon plasma. Alternatively, we also investigate an 'early'-comover absorption scenario where the $c \bar{c}$ pairs are dissociated in the color electric fields of neighboring strings. Again we find good agreement with the experimental data with an estimate for the string radius of $R_s \approx 0.2-0.25 fm$., Comment: 9 pages, sprocl.tex, 1 .ps-figure, 2.eps-figures, Talk presented at the INT/RHIC workshop `Charmonium Production in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions' Seattle (USA), May 1998

We calculate the elastic and inelastic $��N\to ��N, \to ��N, \to ��N, \to ����N, \to ����N, \to ��N$ reactions within a boson exchange approximation where the $������$ coupling constant and form factor are fixed by the reaction $��N \to ��N$ in comparison to the experimental data. We find rather large $��N$ cross sections at low relative momenta of the $��$-meson which leads to a substantial broadening of the $��$-meson width in nuclear matter. The implications of the $��N$ final state interactions are studied for $��$ production in $^{12}C{+}^{12}C, ^{40}Ca{+}^{40}Ca$ and $^{58}Ni{+}^{58}Ni$ reactions at about 2 A GeV within the HSD transport approach; the drastic changes of the transverse mass spectra relative to a general m_T-scaling (for $��^0$ and $��$ mesons) might be controlled experimentally by the TAPS Collaboration., Changed content. 10 pages. 17 figures

Within the one-pion exchange model we calculate the near-threshold $��^{\prime}$ production from $pp$ collisions including the final state interaction between the protons. Since the description of the data is quite well we conclude that $��, ��$ or $ ��$ exchange currents either play no role or cancel each other to a large extent in this reaction., 7 pages, LaTeX, including 3 ps-figures, UGI-98-20. To be pub. EPJ-A