Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect in thermal field theory

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 2000 · Physical Review D

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.62.096012· OSTI ID:40205196

Aurenche, P; Gelis, F; Zaraket, H

In recent studies, the production rate of photons or lepton pairs by a quark gluon plasma has been found to be enhanced due to collinear singularities. This enhancement pattern is very dependent on rather strict collinearity conditions between the photon and the quark momenta. It was estimated by neglecting the collisional width of quasiparticles. In this paper, we study the modifications of this collinear enhancement when we take into account the possibility for the quarks to have a finite mean free path. Assuming a mean free path of order [g{sup 2}Tln(1/g)]{sup -1}, we find that only low invariant mass photons are affected. The region where collision effects are important can be interpreted as the region where the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect plays a role in thermal photon production by bremsstrahlung. It is found that this effect modifies the spectrum of very energetic photons as well. Based on these results and on a previous work on infrared singularities, we end this paper with a reasonable physical picture for photon production by a quark gluon plasma that should be useful to set directions for future technical developments.

• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• OSTI ID: 40205196
• Journal Information: Physical Review D, Journal Name: Physical Review D Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 62; ISSN 0556-2821
• Publisher: The American Physical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
LEPTONS
MEAN FREE PATH
MODIFICATIONS
PHOTONS
PRODUCTION
QUARK MATTER
QUARKS