An estimate of heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient in gluon plasma

TL;DR

This paper estimates the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient in gluon plasma at high temperatures using Monte Carlo simulations, providing insights into quark-gluon plasma dynamics relevant for heavy-ion collision experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a non-perturbative Monte Carlo method to calculate the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient in SU(3) gluon plasma at finite temperatures.

Findings

The diffusion coefficient is computed at 1-2 times the deconfinement temperature.

Results are compared with perturbative estimates and previous studies.

Systematic uncertainties are analyzed and discussed.

Abstract

We calculate the momentum diffusion coefficient for heavy quarks in SU(3) gluon plasma at temperatures 1-2 times the deconfinement temperature. The momentum diffusion coefficient is extracted from a Monte Carlo calculation of the correlation function of color electric fields, in the leading order of expansion in heavy quark mass. Systematics of the calculation are examined, and compared with perturbtion theory and other estimates.