Heavy quarkonia in a medium as a quantum dissipative system: Master-equation approach

TL;DR

This paper models the evolution of heavy quarkonia in a medium using a master-equation approach, revealing how their populations and momentum distributions evolve over time in a plasma environment.

Contribution

It introduces a master-equation framework to describe heavy quarkonium dynamics as a quantum dissipative system, linking population evolution with Fokker-Planck dynamics.

Findings

Quarkonium populations evolve collectively in a plasma.

Momentum distribution follows a Fokker-Planck equation.

The approach bridges open quantum systems and quarkonium physics.

Abstract

The problem of the evolution of a heavy quarkonium in a medium can be recast as that of a quantum dissipative system. Within the framework of the master-equation approach to open quantum systems, we consider the real-time dynamics of quarkonia. We find that in a plasma at fixed temperature, the populations of the various quarkonium states evolve together, while their momentum distribution satisfies a Fokker-Planck equation.