Heavy Quarkonium in the Quark Gluon Plasma from Effective Field Theories and Potentials

TL;DR

This paper discusses effective field theory approaches to understanding heavy quarkonium suppression in quark-gluon plasma, highlighting recent advances in potential extraction from lattice QCD and the role of imaginary parts in the melting process.

Contribution

It presents new insights into defining and interpreting the heavy quark static potential, including non-perturbative extraction and the connection to open quantum systems.

Findings

Progress in obtaining the potential from lattice QCD.

Identification of the imaginary part of the potential.

Linking quarkonium melting to open quantum system frameworks.

Abstract

The measurements of heavy quarkonium suppression at RHIC and LHC urge theory to develop intuitive as well as quantitative methods for the description of $Q\bar{Q}$ melting in the quark-gluon plasma. Here I will present a brief sketch on the effective field theory strategies underlying the definition of the heavy quark static potential and report on two recent advances in the extraction and interpretation of such a potential. On the one side, progress has been made in obtaining its values from lattice QCD, which promises to make possible investigating its real and imaginary part non-perturbatively. On the other side, the existence of an imaginary part emphasizes the dynamical nature of the melting process and invites us to make a direct connection to the framework of open quantum systems.