Mean - field treatment of the linear σ model in dynamical calculations of DCC observables

Approximate mean-field equations of motion for the classical chiral field are developed within the linear σ model by means of a Hartree factorization. Both the approximate and the unapproximated equations of motion are augmented with a Rayleigh cooling term to emulate a uniform expansion, thereby allowing the extraction of observables relevant to the detection of disoriented chiral condensates, specifically the pion power spectrum, the pion correlation function, and the distribution of the neutral pion fraction. While the mean-field dynamics appears to be sufficiently accurate to be practically useful, the results also illustrate some difficulties associated with identifying the phenomenon experimentally.