The distribution of low mass dielectrons likely to be produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions due to bremsstrahlung processes in quark matter and hadronic matter is obtained. Effort is made to minimize uncertainty and restore Lorentz covariance as compared with past calculations performed in a similar vein. It is found that the excess of dielectrons in S+Au collisions at 200A GeV measured by the CERES Collaboration at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron may have an important contribution from these processes at very low masses. ©1996 The American Physical Society.

• Received 4 December 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.54.1366