Pion dissociation and Levinson's theorem in hot PNJL quark matter

Abstract: Pion dissociation by the Mott effect in quark plasma is described within the generalized Beth-Uhlenbeck approach on the basis of the PNJL model which allows for a unified description of bound, resonant and scattering states. As a first approximation, we utilize the Breit-Wigner ansatz for the spectral function and clarify its relation to the complex mass pole solution of the pion Bethe-Salpeter equation. Application of the Levinson theorem proves that describing the pion Mott dissociation solely by means of spectral broadening of the pion bound state beyond T_Mott leaves out a significant aspect. Thus we acknowledge the importance of the continuum of scattering states and show its role for the thermodynamics of pion dissociation.