A New Mechanism of Quark Energy Loss

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel mechanism where fast-moving heavy quarks lose energy via Cherenkov radiation of mesons in strongly coupled quark-gluon plasmas with gravity duals, with potential experimental implications.

Contribution

It reveals a new energy loss process for quarks in quark-gluon plasma and provides exact calculations within holographic models.

Findings

Cherenkov radiation of mesons occurs for fast quarks in strongly coupled plasmas.

The energy loss mechanism is exactly calculable in gravity dual models.

Potential implications for interpreting heavy-ion collision experiments.

Abstract

We show that a heavy quark moving sufficiently fast through a quark-gluon plasma may lose energy by Cherenkov-radiating mesons. We demonstrate that this takes place in all strongly coupled, large-Nc plasmas with a gravity dual. The energy loss is exactly calculable in these models despite being an O(1/Nc)-effect. We discuss phenomenological implications for heavy-ion collision experiments.