https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2005-10303-0
Quark-Gluon-Plasma Thermalization
Production of quark pairs from classical gluon fields
1
Service de Physique Théorique, CEA/DSM/Saclay, Bât. 774, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
2
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, Finland
3
Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, FI-00014, Finland
* e-mail: tuomas.lappi@helsinki.fi
Received:
30
September
2005
Accepted:
2
January
2006
Published online:
24
August
2006
We compute by numerical integration of the Dirac equation the number of quark-antiquark pairs produced in the classical color fields of colliding ultrarelativistic nuclei. Results for the dependence of the number of quarks on the strength of the background field, the quark mass and time are presented. We also perform several tests of our numerical method. While the number of q¯ pairs is parametrically suppressed in the coupling constant, we find that in this classical field model it could even be compatible with the thermal ratio to the number of gluons.
PACS: 24.85.+p Quarks, gluons, and QCD in nuclei and nuclear processes – / 25.75.-q Relativistic heavy-ion collisions – / 12.38.Mh Quark-gluon plasma –
© Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag, 2006