Thermalization of heavy quarks in the quark-gluon plasma

Journal Article · Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2005 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.71.034907· OSTI ID:20696015

Hees, Hendrik van; Rapp, Ralf ^[1]

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1. Cyclotron Institute, Texas A and M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3366 (United States)

Charm- and bottom-quark rescattering in a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is investigated with the objective of assessing the approach toward thermalization. Employing a Fokker-Planck equation to approximate the collision integral of the Boltzmann equation we augment earlier studies based on perturbative parton cross sections by introducing resonant heavy-light quark interactions. The latter are motivated by recent QCD lattice calculations that indicate the presence of 'hadronic' states in the QGP. We model these states by colorless (pseudo-) scalar and (axial-) vector D and B mesons within a heavy-quark effective theory framework. We find that the presence of these resonances at moderate QGP temperatures substantially accelerates the kinetic equilibration of c quarks as compared to using perturbative interactions. We also comment on consequences for D-meson observables in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions.

• OSTI ID: 20696015
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.71.034907; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
B MESONS
B QUARKS
BOLTZMANN EQUATION
C QUARKS
COLLISION INTEGRALS
CROSS SECTIONS
D MESONS
D QUARKS
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
PARTON MODEL
PARTONS
PERTURBATION THEORY
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUARK MATTER
QUARK-QUARK INTERACTIONS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
RESCATTERING
THERMALIZATION
U QUARKS