Photons from axial-vector radiative decay in a hadron gas

Abstract

Strange and non-strange axial-vector meson radiative decays contribute to photon production in hadron gas. One- and two-hadron radiative decay modes of $b_{1}(1235)$, $a_{1}(1260)$ and $K_{1}(1270)$ are studied. At 200 MeV temperature and for a narrow range in photon energies they contribute more to the net thermal photon production rate than $\pi\rho\rightarrow \pi\gamma$, $\pi\pi\rightarrow \rho\gamma$ or $\rho\rightarrow\pi\pi\gamma$. They provide significant contribution to the rate for photon energies as high as 1.5--2.0 GeV. For higher energies they are less important.