How much do heavy quarks thermalize in a heavy ion collision?
- Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T8 (Canada)
We investigate the thermalization of charm quarks in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. To this end, we calculate the diffusion coefficient in the perturbative quark gluon plasma and relate it to collisional energy loss and momentum broadening. We then use these transport properties to formulate a Langevin model for the evolution of the heavy quark spectrum in the hot medium. The model is strictly valid in the nonrelativistic limit and for all velocities {gamma}v<{alpha}s{sup -1/2} to leading logarithm in T/m{sub D}. The corresponding Fokker-Planck equation can be solved analytically for a Bjorken expansion and the solution gives a simple estimate for the medium modifications of the heavy quark spectrum as a function of the diffusion coefficient. Finally we solve the Langevin equations numerically in a hydrodynamic simulation of the heavy-ion reaction. The results of this simulation are the medium modifications of the charm spectrum R{sub AA} and the expected elliptic flow v{sub 2}(p{sub T}) as a function of the diffusion coefficient.
- OSTI ID:
- 20698770
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.71.064904; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2813
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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