Heavy Quarkonium in a weakly-coupled quark-gluon plasma below the melting temperature

TL;DR

This paper calculates heavy quarkonium energy levels and decay widths in a weakly-coupled quark-gluon plasma below the melting temperature, using effective field theory techniques to understand suppression in heavy ion collisions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of quarkonium properties at order m alpha_s^5 in a specific temperature and screening mass hierarchy, advancing theoretical understanding.

Findings

Quantitative energy levels and decay widths for heavy quarkonium in the specified plasma conditions.

Identification of a collinear region contributing at this order.

Implications for heavy quarkonium suppression in heavy ion collisions.

Abstract

We calculate the heavy quarkonium energy levels and decay widths in a quark-gluon plasma, whose temperature T and screening mass m_D satisfy the hierarchy m alpha_s >> T >> m alpha_s^2 >> m_D (m being the heavy-quark mass), at order m alpha_s^5. We first sequentially integrate out the scales m, m alpha_s and T, and, next, we carry out the calculations in the resulting effective theory using techniques of integration by regions. A collinear region is identified, which contributes at this order. We also discuss the implications of our results concerning heavy quarkonium suppression in heavy ion collisions.