Quarkonium above deconfinement as an open quantum system

Abstract

Quarkonium at temperatures above deconfinement is modeled as an open quantum system, whose dynamics is determined not just by a potential energy and mass, but also by a drag coefficient which characterizes its interaction with the medium. The reduced density matrix for a heavy particle experiencing dissipative forces is expressed as an integral over paths in imaginary time and evaluated numerically. We demonstrate that dissipation could affect the Euclidean heavy-heavy correlators calculated in lattice simulations at temperatures just above deconfinement.