Plasma damping effects on the radiative energy loss of relativistic particles

TL;DR

This paper investigates how plasma polarization and damping mechanisms affect the radiative energy loss of relativistic particles, revealing a significant damping-induced reduction that could impact jet quenching studies in heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological model incorporating damping effects into plasma polarization, revealing an additional reduction in energy loss beyond the Ter-Mikaelian effect.

Findings

Damping causes a substantial reduction in radiative energy loss.

The effect increases with higher damping and particle energy.

Potential implications for jet quenching in heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

The energy loss of a relativistic charge undergoing multiple scatterings while traversing an infinite, polarizable and absorptive plasma is investigated. Polarization and damping mechanisms in the medium are phenomenologically modelled by a complex index of refraction. Apart from the known Ter-Mikaelian effect related to the dielectric polarization of matter, we find an additional, substantial reduction of the energy loss due to damping of radiation. The observed effect is more prominent for larger damping and/or larger energy of the charge. A conceivable analog of this phenomenon in QCD could influence the study of jet quenching phenomena in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC.