Theory of heavy quark energy loss

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical models of heavy quark energy loss in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, analyzing constraints from RHIC and early LHC data to improve understanding of quark quenching mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides a comparative overview of existing models and discusses how experimental data constrains these theoretical descriptions.

Findings

Constraints from RHIC data challenge some models

Early LHC data offer new insights into quark energy loss

Theoretical schemes need refinement based on experimental results

Abstract

We briefly review some of the models and theoretical schemes established to describe heavy quark quenching in ultrarelativistic heavy ions collisions. Some lessons are derived from RHIC and early LHC data, especially as for the contraints they impose on those models.