Apparent Thermalization due to Plasma Instabilities in Quark-Gluon Plasma
Abstract
Hydrodynamical modeling of heavy ion collisions at RHIC suggests that the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) "thermalizes" in a remarkably short time scale, about 0.6 fm/c. We argue that this should be viewed as indicating fast isotropization, but not necessarily complete thermalization, of the non-equilibrium QGP. Non-Abelian plasma instabilities can drive local isotropization of an anisotropic QGP on a time scale which is faster than ordinary perturbative scattering processes. As a result, we argue that theoretical expectations based on weak coupling analysis are not necessarily in conflict with hydrodynamic modeling of the early part of RHIC collisions, provided one recognizes the key role of non-Abelian plasma instabilities.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.nucl-th/0409068,
title = {Apparent Thermalization due to Plasma Instabilities in Quark-Gluon Plasma},
author = {Peter Arnold and Jonathan Lenaghan and Guy D. Moore and Laurence G. Yaffe},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:nucl-th/0409068},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
4 pages [updated to reflect final journal version: a paragraph of new discussion at the start of the "isotropization" section, plus assorted minor changes]