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Bc Mesons as a signal of deconfinement

L. P. Fulcher, J. Rafelski, R. L. Thews

hep-pharXiv:hep-ph/9905201

Abstract

We investigate the fate of bottom quarks produced in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC. Examining both the direct capture of a charmed quark, and multi-step processes, where the Bc meson is formed in a sequence of quark capture and exchange reactions, we find: a) that a sufficiently high number of Bc's will be produced to generate a detectable tri-lepton signal, and b) that the production rate of Bc's is highly sensitive to the properties of the deconfined source. A flavor-independent potential model, which includes color screening effects, is used to study the propagation of a Bc in a quark-gluon fireball and to compare this behavior with that of J/Psi mesons.

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