The sound produced by a fast parton in the quark-gluon plasma is a "crescendo"

TL;DR

This paper models the energy deposition in quark-gluon plasma by fast partons, accounting for both collisional and radiative energy losses, and analyzes the medium's response to these energy depositions.

Contribution

It introduces a differential equation to describe how radiated gluon spectra are modified by energy loss, enhancing understanding of medium excitation by fast partons.

Findings

Quantifies total energy deposited per unit length by partons.

Shows radiative gluon interactions significantly contribute to medium excitation.

Provides numerical results for back-to-back parton scenarios.

Abstract

We calculate the total energy deposited into the medium per unit length by fast partons traversing a quark-gluon plasma. The medium excitation due to collisions is taken to be given by the well known expression for the collisional drag force. The radiative energy loss of the parton contributes to the energy deposition because each radiated gluon acts as an additional source of collisional energy loss in the medium. We derive a differential equation which governs how the spectrum of radiated gluons is modified when this energy loss is taken into account. This modified spectrum is then used to calculate the additional energy deposition due to the interactions of radiated gluons with the medium. Numerical results are presented for the medium response for the case of two energetic back-to-back partons created in a hard interaction.