Properties of quark gluon plasma at weak and strong coupling
Name
893436426-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
19.26 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b27fc072c973087cf785e0fd8f1fa4f4
Author(s)
Lekaveckas, Mindaugas
Advisor(s)
Krishna Rajagopal and Hong Liu.
Date Issued
2014
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In this thesis properties of probe particle traveling through quark gluon plasma as created in heavy ion collisions are investigated. In the first part, probability distribution P(k1 ) is calculated for an energetic parton that propagates for a distance L through a weakly coupled medium without radiating to pick up transverse momentum k1. Results for P(k1 ) in weakly coupled quark gluon plasma are compared to expectations from holographic calculations that assume a plasma that is strongly coupled at all length scales. It is found that the shape of P(k1) at modest k1 may not be very different in weakly coupled and strongly coupled plasmas, but P(k1 ) must be parametrically larger in a weakly coupled plasma than in a strongly coupled plasma - at large enough k1. In the second part of the thesis the drag force acting on a heavy quark propagating through the matter which is far from or close to equilibrium in a strongly coupled gauge theory that can be analyzed holographically is computed and studied. It is found that fluid velocity and temperature gradients affect the drag force but does not substantially modify it as long as fluid is close to equilibrium. When quark is away from equilibrium, the modification of drag force manifests in terms of the delay time with respect to equilibrium expectations. These aspects are illustrated for the example of two colliding shockwaves where fluid is far from equilibrium at early times as well as for any fluid close to equilibrium in which case drag force expressions are obtained analytically.
Description
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2014.
154
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-241).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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