Charm meson and charm-meson molecule in an expanding hadron gas
We present our studies on the evolution of charm mesons after the kinetic freeze-out of the expanding hadron gas produced in a heavy-ion collision and the thermal correction to a loosely bound charm-meson molecule in a pion gas. The πD* → πD* reaction rates have t-channel singularities that give contributions inversely proportional to the thermal width of the D. The ratio of the D 0 and D + production rate can differ significantly from those predicted using the measured D* branching fractions. The thermal correction to a loosely bound charm-meson molecule in a pion gas comes primarily from the complex thermal energy shift of the charm-meson constituents.