The high-density symmetry energy in heavy ion collisions

The nuclear symmetry energy as a function of density is rather poorly constrained theoretically and experimentally both below saturation density, but particularly at high density, where very few relevant experimental data exist. We discuss observables which could yield information on this question, in particular, proton-neutron flow differences, and the production of pions and kaons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. For the meson production we investigate particularly ratios of the corresponding isospin partners pi(-)/pi(+) and K-0/K+, where we find that the kaons are an interesting probe to the symmetry energy. In this case-we also discuss the influence of various choices for the kaon potentials or in-medium effective masses. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.