Energy Loss in Unstable Quark-Gluon Plasma

Understand

The momentum distribution of quark-gluon plasma at the early stage of a relativistic heavy-ion collision is anisotropic and consequently the system, which is assumed to be weakly coupled, is unstable due chromomagnetic plasma modes.

• We consider a high-energy parton which flies across such an unstable plasma, and the energy transfer between the parton and the medium is studied as an initial value problem.
• In the case of equilibrium plasmas, the well-known formula of collisional energy loss is reproduced.
• The unstable plasma case is much more complex, and the parton can lose or gain energy depending on the initial conditions.