Quarkonium production in high energy heavy ion collisions

We have estimated in a kinetic model the effects of a new production mechanism for quarkonium states in high energy heavy ion collisions. In this mechanism, bound states are formed from a quark and an antiquark which were originally produced in separate incoherent interactions. This requires the mobility of heavy quarks in an extended space-time region and so will impact predictions of quarkonium production as a signal of deconfinement. Our calculations predict that at RHIC energies the deconfinement signal will change from suppression to enhancement of J/ψ production. The dependence on centrality and total heavy quark population will serve as indicators for the presence of this new mechanism. (author)