| We study the hadronic phase of Quantum Chromodynamics within a formalism that uses strongly interacting resonances in the Regge theory approach. Our aim is to investigate the properties of the medium created in a relativistic nucleus-nucleus collision, using the electromagnetic decays of vector mesons as probe. To do so, we first layout the foundations of Regge theory, which is then used to calculate the in-medium properties of vector mesons. This methodology will be used to calculate for the first time the properties of the &phis; meson in a hadronic medium. The properties are contained within the imaginary part of the propagator (IMPP). Since it is related to electromagnetic decay via vector meson dominance, the IMPP is a probe of strongly interacting hadron gas created in the collision. |
