The propagation of a low momentum heavy quark in deconfined quark-gluon plasma can be understood terms Langevin description. exchange with the thermal equilibrium then parametrized single diffusion coefficient κ, which needs to determined nonperturbatively. In this work, we study temperature dependence κ for static gluonic plasma, particular emphasis on range interest ion collision experiments.

The present status of the heavy-ion program to search for quark-gluon plasma is reviewed. The goal of this program is to recreate the Big Bang in the laboratory, by generating small chunks of exploding quark-gluon plasma (“The Little Bang”). I argue that the analogues of the three pillars of Big Bang Theory (Hubble flow, microwave background radiation, and primordial nucleosynthesis) have now b...

I present a theory-guided review of RHIC data, arguing that they provide strong evidence for formation of a thermalized quark-gluon plasma at RHIC. Strong radial flow reflects high thermal pressure in the reaction zone. Large elliptic flow proves that the pressure builds up quickly and the system thermalizes on a very short time scale of < 1 fm/c. The observed hadron yields are consistent with ...

We calculate the screening potential of a fast parton moving through a quark-gluon plasma in the framework of semi-classical transport theory. We found an anisotropic potential showing a minimum in the direction of the parton velocity. Possible consequences of this potential on binary states in a quark-gluon plasma are discussed. Screening of charges in a plasma is an important collective effec...

In order to describe properties of an equilibrated quark-gluon plasma, QCD at finite temperature (and density) has to be considered. Besides lattice calculations, which can be applied only to static quantities at zero density, perturbative QCD has been used. At finite temperature, however, serious problems such as infrared divergent and gauge dependent results have been encountered. These diffi...

In order to describe properties of an equilibrated quark-gluon plasma, QCD at nite temperature (and density) has to be considered. Besides lattice calculations, which can be applied only to static quantities at zero density, perturbative QCD has been used. At nite temperature, however, serious problems such as infrared divergent and gauge dependent results have been encountered. These di cultie...

Here is a basic question: What is the (local) thermalization time for quarkgluon plasmas (QGPs) in heavy ion collisions? That’s a difficult question, so let’s ask a simpler one: What is it for arbitrarily high energy collisions, where the running coupling constant is small, αs ≪ 1? Even that turns out to be complicated, so let me focus on an even simpler version, first posed by Baier, Mueller, ...

We formulate and study a mechanical instability criterion for sudden hadronization of dense matter fireballs formed in 158A GeV Pb-Pb collisions. Considering properties of quark-gluon matter and hadron gas we obtain the phase boundary between these two phases and demonstrate that the required deep quark-gluon-plasma supercooling prior to sudden hadronization has occurred.