Non-equilibrium phenomena in the QCD phase transition

Abstract: Within the context of the linear $\s$-model for two flavours, we investigate non-equilibrium phenomena that may occur during the QCD chiral phase transition in heavy-ion collisions. We assume that the chiral symmetry breaking is followed by a rapid quench so that the system falls out of thermal equilibrium. We study the mechanism for the amplification of the pion field during the oscillations of the $\s$-field towards and around its new minimum. We show that the pion spectrum develops a characteristic pronounced peak at low momenta.