Spectral functions and in-medium properties of hadrons

Abstract

The in-medium modifications of hadron properties such as masses and decay widths have been a major focus of the scientific work of Gerry Brown and the insights gained by him and his collaborators made them major drivers of this field for several decades. Their prediction of experimental signals in di-lepton pair production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions were instrumental in initiating large experimental campaigns which continue until today. In this chapter we review recent results which elucidate the relation of hadronic spectral properties at finite temperature and density to the restoration of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry.