Evolution to the Quark-Gluon Plasma

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical advances in understanding the early-time dynamics of quark-gluon plasma formation in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, covering initial conditions, thermalization, and plasma instabilities.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent theoretical developments including models of initial gluon states, thermalization scenarios, and plasma instabilities in quark-gluon plasma formation.

Findings

Insights into fast isotropization processes

Understanding of the onset of hydrodynamics

Analysis of transient momentum spectral cascades

Abstract

Theoretical studies on the early-time dynamics in the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions are reviewed including pedagogical introductions on the initial condition with small-x gluons treated as a color glass condensate, the bottom-up thermalization scenario, plasma/glasma instabilities, basics of some formulations such as the kinetic equations and the classical statistical simulation. More detailed discussions follow to make an overview of recent developments on the fast isotropization, the onset of hydrodynamics, and the transient behavior of momentum spectral cascades.