Jet-induced gauge field instabilities in the quark-gluon plasma

TL;DR

This paper investigates how relativistic jets induce gauge field instabilities in a quark-gluon plasma, revealing that certain unstable modes could explain jet quenching in heavy ion collisions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of gauge field instabilities caused by jets in quark-gluon plasma using the Vlasov approximation and tsunami-like distribution functions.

Findings

Unstable gauge modes are most prominent with momentum orthogonal to jet velocity.

Instability effects are amplified at ultrarelativistic jet velocities.

Results suggest a new collective mechanism for jet quenching phenomena.

Abstract

We discuss the properties of the collective modes of a system composed by a thermalized quark-gluon plasma traversed by a relativistic jet of partons. The transport equations obeyed by the components of the plasma and of the jet are studied in the Vlasov approximation. Assuming that the partons in the jet can be described with a tsunami-like distribution function we derive the expressions of the dispersion law of the collective modes. Then the behavior of the unstable gauge modes of the system is analyzed for various values of the velocity of the jet, of the momentum of the collective modes and of the angle between these two quantities. We find that the most unstable modes are those with momentum orthogonal to the velocity of the jet, and the effect is stronger for ultrarelativistic jet velocities. Our results suggest a new possible collective mechanism for the description of the jet quenching phenomena in heavy ion collisions.