Deconfinement and Quarkonium Suppression

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent developments in understanding quarkonium suppression as a signature of deconfinement in heavy ion collisions, considering new lattice and hadronization studies that challenge earlier assumptions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of recent theoretical and lattice findings that refine the understanding of quarkonium behavior in hot dense matter.

Findings

Heavy quark bound states may persist above the deconfinement temperature.

Lattice spectral functions suggest quarkonium survival at high temperatures.

Refined models incorporate thermal evolution and recombination effects.

Abstract

Modifications in the production pattern of heavy quark bound states have long been considered to provide sensitive signatures for the thermal properties of dense matter created in heavy ion collisions. The original concept of Matsui and Satz for quarkonium suppression as signature for deconfinement in heavy ion collisions has been challenged recently through lattice studies of spectral functions, which indicate the persistence of heavy quark bound states at temperatures well above the transition, as well as through the refined analysis of hadronization and recombination models, which take into account the thermal evolution of the medium generated in a heavy ion collision. We will review here recent developments on these topics.