Shock waves from heavy-quark mesons in AdS/CFT

Abstract

We calculate the far-field stress-energy tensor of a quark gluon plasma due to a heavy-quark meson moving through it, using a semi-classical description in string theory of the meson as a string hanging into anti-de Sitter space. We find that these mesons create a shock wave but no diffusion wake, in contrast to single heavy quarks described via a trailing string, where the diffusion wake is strong. If thermal QCD responds similarly to heavy quarks and heavy quarkonia, the presence or suppression of the diffusion wake constitutes a prediction which can in principle be checked in heavy-ion collisions.