Heavy-quarks in the QGP: study of medium effects through euclidean propagators and spectral functions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how heavy quarks behave in a quark-gluon plasma by reconstructing spectral functions from Euclidean propagators using simulations and comparing with weak-coupling calculations to understand medium effects.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze heavy-quark spectral functions in a hot plasma via Euclidean propagators and combines simulation with weak-coupling theory for interpretation.

Findings

Spectral functions reconstructed from Euclidean propagators.

Qualitative understanding of medium effects on heavy quarks.

Comparison between simulation results and weak-coupling calculations.

Abstract

The heavy-quark spectral function in a hot plasma is reconstructed from the corresponding euclidean propagator. The latter is evaluated through a path-integral simulation. A weak-coupling calculation is also performed, allowing to interpret the qualitative behavior of the spectral function in terms of quite general physical processes.