Thermodynamics of hadronic matter at high density

We calculate thermodynamics observables for an interacting relativistic hadron gas. Hadronic states are taken into account by the use of a sizeable portion of the experimental hadron spectrum, supplemented in some cases by an exponentially rising continuum. Calculations with non-zero baryon number densities, subject to the additional requirement of zero net strangeness, show structure in the heat capacity per unit volume of the baryon sector at a temperature of approximately 140 MeV. This structure also becomes visible in the total heat capacity per unit volume at large baryon number densities, and provides a signature for the change of the thermal response of the hadron gas from baryon- to meson-dominated, even though the meson number density is lower than the baryon number density. Furthermore, this structure is not seen in calculations with a massless hadron gas. Its origin is therefore associated with information contained in the hadronic mass spectrum, and thus with the sub-hadronic degrees of freedom of the hadrons.