Thermalization of a jet wake in QCD kinetic theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates how high-momentum partons deposit energy in a Quark-Gluon Plasma, revealing that their wakes thermalize and can be modeled by an angle-dependent temperature distribution, aiding phenomenological descriptions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that jet wakes in QCD kinetic theory thermalize and can be effectively described by a thermal distribution with angular dependence, providing a new modeling approach.

Findings

Energy is transported to the soft sector via collinear cascade.

Jet wake can be described by a thermal distribution with angle-dependent temperature.

The thermalization process can inform phenomenological models in heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

We study the energy deposition of a high-momentum parton traveling through a Quark-Gluon Plasma using QCD kinetic theory. We show that the energy is first transported to the soft sector by collinear cascade and then isotropised by elastic scatterings. Remarkably, we find that the jet wake can be well described by a thermal distribution function with angle-dependent temperature. This could be used for effective phenomenological descriptions of jet thermalization in realistic heavy-ion collision simulations.