How much do heavy quarks thermalize in a heavy ion collision?

2004/12/31 by Guy D. Moore, Derek Teaney · 16 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Charm (quantum number) #Charm quark #Convection–diffusion equation #Differential equation #Diffusion #Elliptic flow #Fokker–Planck equation #Heavy ion #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Ion #Langevin equation #Momentum (technical analysis) #Momentum diffusion #Nuclear physics #Operator (biology) #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Quark #Quark–gluon plasma #Statistical physics #Thermalisation #Thermodynamics #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevc.71.064904

published as Phys.Rev. C71 (2005) 064904 · 34 pages, 9 figures. Inculdes a detailed comparison with Boltzmann simulations

arxiv created 2005/03/16 · openalex publication_date 2005/06/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

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 \ensuremathγv<\ensuremathαs^\ensuremath-1/2 to leading logarithm in T/m_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_AA and the expected elliptic flow v₂(p_T) as a function of the diffusion coefficient.

Citations

• Effect of shear viscosity on spectra, elliptic flow, and Hanbury Brown–Twiss radii
• Heavy quark radiative energy loss in QCD matter
• Parton Coalescence and the Antiproton/Pion Anomaly at RHIC
• An Algorithmic Introduction to Numerical Simulation of Stochastic Differential Equations
• New method for measuring azimuthal distributions in nucleus-nucleus collisions
• Saturation of elliptic flow and the transport opacity of the gluon plasma at RHIC
• Hydrodynamic models

Cited by

• Transport properties of the quark-gluon plasma
• Classical model for diffusion and thermalization of heavy quarks in a hot medium: memory and out-of-equilibrium effects *
• Heavy-quark dynamics in a hydrodynamically evolving medium
• Viscosity of high energy nuclear fluids
• QUARKONIA IN THE QUARK GLUON PLASMA
• Radial distribution of charm quarks in jets in high-energy heavy-ion collisions
• Azimuthal correlations of heavy quarks in Pb + Pb collisions ats=2.76TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Energy loss and dynamical evolution of quarkpTspectra
• Electrical conductivity of the quark-gluon plasma and soft photon spectrum in heavy-ion collisions
• Momentum fluctuations of heavy quarks in the gauge-string duality
• Strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions
• Production of charm quarks in a parton cascade model for relativistic heavy ion collisions at sNN=200 GeV
• Jet quenching and broadening: The transport coefficientqin an anisotropic plasma
• Diffusion ofΛcin hot hadronic medium and its impact onΛc/Dratio
• Holographic estimate of heavy quark diffusion in a magnetic field
• Basics of Thermal Field Theory