Anomalous mass dependence of radiative quark energy loss in a finite-size quark-gluon plasma

TL;DR

This paper shows that in a finite-size quark-gluon plasma, heavy quarks can experience stronger gluon radiation than light quarks due to quantum effects, challenging previous models.

Contribution

It reveals the importance of finite-size quantum effects on radiative energy loss, which were neglected in earlier dead cone models.

Findings

Heavy quarks emit more gluons than light quarks in finite-size plasma.

Finite-size effects enhance photon emission from heavy quarks.

Quantum oscillations of the wave function are crucial in this regime.

Abstract

We demonstrate that for a finite-size quark-gluon plasma the induced gluon radiation from heavy quarks is stronger than that for light quarks when the gluon formation length becomes comparable with (or exceeds) the size of the plasma. The effect is due to oscillations of the light-cone wave function for the in-medium $q\to gq$ transition. The dead cone model by Dokshitzer and Kharzeev neglecting quantum finite-size effects is not valid in this regime. The finite-size effects also enhance the photon emission from heavy quarks.