Energy loss of a heavy quark in the quark-gluon plasma
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (USA)
- Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California (USA)
The energy loss {ital dE}/{ital dx} for a heavy quark propagating through a quark-gluon plasma is calculated to leading order in the QCD coupling constant. Simple formulas for {ital dE}/{ital dx} are obtained in the regions {ital E}{much lt}{ital M}{sub {ital Q}}{sup 2}/{ital T} and {ital E}{much gt}{ital M}{sub {ital Q}}{sup 2}/{ital T}, where {ital M}{sub {ital Q}} is the mass of the heavy quark and {ital T} is the temperature. The crossover energy between the two regions is determined to be approximately 1.8{ital M}{sub {ital Q}}{sup 2}/{ital T}. Under conditions relevant to ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, charm quarks and bottom quarks lie on opposite sides of the crossover energy and therefore experience significantly different energy losses.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098; AC02-76ER02289
- OSTI ID:
- 6387646
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 44:9; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Energy loss of charm quarks in the quark-gluon plasma: Collisional vs radiative losses
Effects of the running of the QCD coupling on the energy loss in the quark-gluon plasma
Related Subjects
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
COUPLING CONSTANTS
QUARKS
ENERGY LOSSES
CHARM PARTICLES
ELASTIC SCATTERING
FEYNMAN DIAGRAM
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
MASS
MOMENTUM TRANSFER
QUARK MATTER
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
DIAGRAMS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
LOSSES
MATTER
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
POSTULATED PARTICLES
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SCATTERING
662230* - Quantum Chromodynamics- (1992-)
662440 - Properties of Other Particles Including Hypothetical Particles- (1992-)