Quarkonium propagation in the quark-gluon plasma

In relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC, a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) is created for a short duration of about 10 fm/c. Quarkonia (bound states of cc and b (b) over bar) are sensitive probes of this phase on length scales comparable to the size of the bound states which are less than 1 fm. Observations of quarkonia in these collisions provide us with a lot of information about how the presence of a QGP affects various quarkonium states. This has motivated the development of the theory of heavy quarks and their bound states in a thermal medium, and its application to the phenomenology of quarkonia in heavy ion collisions. We review some of these developments here.

Automated summary

The text discusses the creation of a quark-gluon plasma in relativistic heavy ion collisions and how it affects quarkonium states. Observations of quarkonia in these collisions provide valuable information about the QGP, leading to the development of related theories and applications.