Heavy Quark Dynamics in the QGP

TL;DR

This paper investigates heavy quark transport in the Quark-Gluon Plasma using a non-perturbative T-matrix approach, revealing resonance effects near the critical temperature that explain experimental observations at RHIC and LHC.

Contribution

It introduces a T-matrix method with lattice QCD potentials to model heavy-quark resonances and successfully describes experimental data on heavy-flavor suppression and flow.

Findings

Resonant scattering of heavy quarks increases near the critical temperature.

The model accurately reproduces R_AA and v_2 for heavy-flavor electrons and D mesons.

Heavy-quark interactions are strongly non-perturbative in the QGP.

Abstract

We assess transport properties of heavy quarks in the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) that show a strong non-perturbative behavior. A T-matrix approach based on a potential taken from lattice QCD hints at the presence of heavy-quark (HQ) resonant scattering with an increasing strength as the temperature, $T$, reaches the critical temperature, $T_c \simeq 170 \; \MeV$ for deconfinement from above. The implementation of HQ resonance scattering along with a hadronization via quark coalescence under the conditions of the plasma created in heavy-ion collisions has been shown to correctly describe both the nuclear modification factor, $R_{AA}$, and the elliptic flow, $v_2$, of single electrons at RHIC and have correctly predicted the $R_{AA}$ of D mesons at LHC energy.