Vector mesons at finite temperature and QCD sum rules

Finite energy sum rules for vector and axial-vector currents are derived in a thermal medium to provide constraints for the spectral behavior of rho and a1 mesons at nonvanishing temperature and hence to study the tendency toward chiral symmetry restoration. The parity-mixing ansatz for the rho and a1 spectra, including finite widths, is investigated as a function of temperature. Characteristic differences between vector and axial-vector channels are discussed with regard to the implementation of the chiral-symmetry-breaking scale, 4pi times the pion decay constant, in the sum rule approach.