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We extend a previously constructed T -matrix approach to the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) to include the effects of spin-dependent interactions between partons. Following earlier work within the relativistic quark model, the spin-dependent interactions figure as relativistic corrections to the Cornell potential. When applied to the vacuum spectroscopy of quarkonia, in particular their mass splittings in S- and P-wave states, the issue of the Lorentz structure of the confining potential arises. We confirm that a significant admixture of a vector interaction (to the previously assumed scalar interaction) improves the description of the experimental mass splittings. The temperature corrections to the in-medium potential are constrained by results from thermal lattice quantum chromodynamics for the equation of state and heavy-quark free energy in a self-consistent setup for heavyand light-parton spectral functions in the QGP. We then deploy the refined in-medium heavy-light T matrix to compute the charm-quark transport coefficients in the QGP. The vector component of the confining potential, through its relativistic corrections, enhances the friction coefficient for charm quarks in the QGP over previous calculations by tens of percentages at low momenta and temperatures and more at higher momenta. Our results are promising for improving the current phenomenology of open heavy-flavor observables at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider.
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This content will become publicly available on July 1, 2026
Non-perturbative quarkonium dissociation rates in strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma
A<sc>bstract</sc> Heavy quarks and quarkonia are versatile probes of the transport properties of the hot QCD medium produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions (URHICs). A robust description of heavy-flavor transport coefficients requires a microscopic approach that treats the open and hidden heavy-flavor sectors on the same footing. Here, we employ the quantum many-bodyT-matrix formalism to evaluate the dissociation rates of heavy quarkonia in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The basic ingredient is the heavy-lightT-matrix, which utilizes a nonperturbative driving kernel constrained by lattice-QCD data. Its resummation in a ladder series provides a much enhanced interaction strength compared to a previously used perturbative coupling to the quasiparticle partons in the QGP. The in-medium quarkonium properties, particularly their temperature-dependent binding energies, are obtained from selfconsistent calculations with the same interaction kernel, including interference effects (also referred to as the imaginary part of the heavy-quark potential) as well as off-shell parton spectral functions. We systematically investigate the interplay of these effects and elaborate on the connections to the dipole approximation used in effective field theory.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2209335
- PAR ID:
- 10650669
- Publisher / Repository:
- Journal of High Energy Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of High Energy Physics
- Volume:
- 2025
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 1029-8479
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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