Jets in QCD media: from color coherence to decoherence

Abstract

We investigate soft gluon radiation off a quark-antiquark antenna in both color singlet and octet configurations traversing a dense medium. We demonstrate that, in both cases, multiple scatterings lead to a gradual decoherence of the antenna radiation as a function of the medium density. In particular, in the limit of an completely opaque medium, total decoherence is obtained, i.e., the quark and the antiquark radiate as independent emitters in vacuum, thus losing memory of their origin. We comment on possible implications on intrajet observables in heavy-ion collisions.