On quarkonium in an anisotropic quark gluon plasma

We reconsider a plasma with an anisotropy imposed on the momentum distribution of the system and study the real time static potential for quarkonia. The distribution function is normalised so as to preserve the particle number in an ideal gas, as required in the Keldysh-Schwinger formalism. In contrast to recent findings without this normalisation, a weak anisotropy does not lead to an increase in the melting temperature for bound states. To test for the maximal effect, we also investigate a gluonic medium in the limit of an asymptotically strong anisotropy. The spectral function of quarkonium is calculated for this case and found to be in remarkable agreement with the corresponding results for an isotropic medium.

Heavy Quarkonia beyond Deconfinement and Real Time Lattice Simulations

Since the initial investigation by Matsui and Satz heavy quark bound states at finite temperature have been subject to numerous studies. The derivation of a finite-temperature potential from first principles was attempted only recently however, by generalising the Schroedinger equation which is successfully employed for the description of quarkonia at zero temperature to a thermal setting. In this note the finite-temperature static potential is derived to leading order using resummed perturbation theory. The modification of the heavy quarkonium spectral function by an imaginary part of the potential appearing at finite temperature is discussed. Additionally, the extent of possible corrections due to non-perturbative processes is assessed by employing real-time lattice techniques based on kinetic theory.

Wilson Loop in Classical Lattice Gauge Theory and the Thermal Width of Heavy Quarkonium

We present an estimate for the imaginary part of the recently introduced finite temperature real-time static potential. It can be extracted from the time evolution of the Wilson loop in classical lattice gauge theory. The real-time static potential determines, through a Schroedinger-type equation and a subsequent Fourier-transform of its solution, the spectral function of heavy quarkonium in finite-temperature QCD. We also compare the results of the classical simulations with those of Hard Thermal Loop improved simulations, as well as with analytic expectations based on resummed perturbation theory.

Thermal imaginary part of a real-time static potential from classical lattice gauge theory simulations

Recently, a finite-temperature real-time static potential has been introduced via a Schrodinger-type equation satisfied by a certain heavy quarkonium Greens function. Furthermore, it has been pointed out that it possesses an imaginary part, which induces a finite width for the tip of the quarkonium peak in the thermal dilepton production rate. The imaginary part originates from Landau-damping of low-frequency gauge fields, which are essentially classical due to their high occupation number. Here we show how the imaginary part can be measured with classical lattice gauge theory simulations, accounting non-perturbatively for the infrared sector of finite-temperature field theory. We demonstrate that a non-vanishing imaginary part indeed exists non-perturbatively; and that its value agrees semi-quantitatively with that predicted by Hard Loop resummed perturbation theory.