Quarkonium Formation at High Energy

Abstract

The production of quarkonium in heavy ion collisions is studied at RHIC and LHC energies. General arguments indicate that, due to initial production of multiple quark pairs in each central collision, the final population of quarkonium may exhibit significant enhancements over straightforward extrapolation of behavior at SPS energy. Explicit calculations based on both a statistical hadronization picture and a kinetic formation mechanism in a deconfined state verify these general expectations. Such enhancements will alter the nature of how quarkonium yields may be used as a signature of deconfinement.