Low-mass dileptons at the CERN-SpS: evidence for chiral restoration?

Using a rather complete description of the in-medium $\rho$ spectral function – being constrained by various independent experimental information – we calculate pertinent dilepton production rates from hot and dense hadronic matter. The strong broadening of the $\rho$ resonance entails a reminiscence to perturbative $q\bar q$ annihilation rates in the vicinity of the phase boundary. The application to dilepton observables in Pb(158AGeV)+Au collisions – incorporating recent information on the hadro-chemical composition at CERN-SpS energies – essentially supports the broadening scenario. Possible implications for the nature of chiral symmetry restoration are outlined