Workshop for young scientists with research interests focused on physics at FAIR

Lepton pairs emerging from decays of virtual photons represent promising probes of matter under extreme conditions. In the energy domain of 1 - 2 GeV per nucleon, the HADES experiment at GSI Helmholtzzentrum fuer Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt studies di-electrons and strangeness production in various reactions, i.e. collisions of pions, protons, deuterons and heavy-ions with nuclei. An accurate determination of the medium radiation depends on a precise knowledge of the underlying hadronic cocktail composed of various sources contributing to the net spectra. Therefore, a measurement of the neutral meson yields together with the dileptons is crucial. In this contribution, the capability of HADES to detect $e^-e^+$ pairs from conversions of real photons will be demonstrated. We will present results from a two-photon analysis of Au+Au collisions at 1.23 GeV/u providing information on neutral $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ mesons. Supported by BMBF (06FY9100I and 06FY7114), HIC for FAIR, EMMI, GSI, HGS-Hire and H-QM