Heavy Quark Momentum Diffusion Coefficient from Lattice QCD

TL;DR

This paper nonperturbatively estimates the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient in a gluon plasma using lattice QCD, revealing significant deviations from perturbative predictions and aligning with experimental heavy quark flow data.

Contribution

It provides the first nonperturbative lattice QCD calculation of the heavy quark diffusion coefficient in a deconfined gluon plasma.

Findings

Diffusion coefficient differs significantly from perturbative estimates.

Results are consistent with heavy quark flow observed at RHIC.

Nonperturbative estimates are reliable for temperatures between Tc and 2 Tc.

Abstract

The momentum diffusion coefficient for heavy quarks is studied in a deconfined gluon plasma in the static approximation by investigating a correlation function of the color electric field using Monte Carlo techniques. The diffusion coefficient is extracted from the long distance behavior of such a correlator. For temperatures Tc < T <~ 2 Tc, our nonperturbative estimate of the diffusion coefficient is found to be very different from the leading order perturbation theory, and is in the right ballpark to explain the heavy quark flow seen by PHENIX at RHIC.