Shedding light on thermal photon and dilepton production

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent theoretical advancements in calculating electromagnetic radiation from the quark-gluon plasma, focusing on perturbative and lattice simulation methods to improve understanding of photon and dilepton production in heavy ion collisions.

Contribution

It presents updated calculations of photon and dilepton emission rates from the QGP, including NLO resummation, spectral function analysis, and extension to finite baryon chemical potential.

Findings

Decomposition of NLO emission rate into transverse and longitudinal components

Validation of spectral functions against lattice data

Extension of calculations to non-zero baryon chemical potential

Abstract

Electromagnetic radiation from the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is an important observable to be considered in heavy ion collision experiments. I will provide an update on recent advancements from perturbation theory and quenched lattice simulations. The resummed next-to-leading order (NLO) emission rate has recently been decomposed into transverse and longitudinal components, and extended to non-zero baryon chemical potential. The associated spectral function has also been tested against the Euclidean correlator, for continuum-extrapolated lattice data (at $\mu_{\rm B}=0$).