THE SHAPE OF DILEPTON SPECTRA IN HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS AS A SIGNATURE OF QUARK-GLUON PLASMA

The formation of quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions should manifest itself by the increase of the ratio of medium to large mass dileptons, the former being produced predominantly in the QGP and the mixed phase whereas the latter are produced mostly by the Drell Yan process. The increase of this ratio should be visible either when comparing collisions of lighter with heavier ions, e.g. O + O with Pb + Pb or when comparing low and large transverse energy events in heavy ion e.g. Pb + Pb collisions.