English

Simulating plasma instabilities in SU(3) gauge theory

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2010-04-15 v2 High Energy Physics - Lattice High Energy Physics - Theory Nuclear Theory

Abstract

We compute nonequilibrium dynamics of plasma instabilities in classical-statistical lattice gauge theory in 3+1 dimensions. The simulations are done for the first time for the SU(3) gauge group relevant for quantum chromodynamics. We find a qualitatively similar behavior as compared to earlier investigations in SU(2) gauge theory. The characteristic growth rates are about 25 % lower for given energy density, such that the isotropization process is slower. Measured in units of the characteristic screening mass, the primary growth rate is independent of the number of colors.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0812.3859,
  title  = {Simulating plasma instabilities in SU(3) gauge theory},
  author = {J. Berges and D. Gelfand and S. Scheffler and D. Sexty},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.3859},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

11 pages, 5 figures. Version accepted for publication in Physics Letters B, minor changes

R2 v1 2026-06-21T11:54:14.755Z