Universal quark to gluon ratio in medium-induced parton cascade

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in a high-temperature QCD plasma, the ratio of quarks to gluons in the cascade of a high-energy parton becomes universally constant, regardless of initial conditions, impacting jet quenching and plasma thermalization.

Contribution

It reveals a universal quark to gluon ratio in medium-induced parton cascades, independent of initial conditions, due to turbulent dynamics.

Findings

Quark to gluon ratio approaches a universal constant.

The result applies within an inertial momentum range.

Implications for jet quenching and plasma thermalization.

Abstract

We investigate the radiative break-up of a highly energetic quark or gluon in a high-temperature QCD plasma. Within an inertial range of momenta $T \ll \omega \ll E$, where $E$ denotes the energy of the original hard parton (jet) and $T$ the temperature of of the medium, we find that, as a result of the turbulent nature of the underlying parton cascade, the quark to gluon ratio of the soft fragments tends to a universal constant value that is independent of the initial conditions. We discuss implications of this result to jet quenching physics and the problem of thermalization of the quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions.