Radiative energy loss reduction in an absorptive plasma

Abstract

The influence of the damping of radiation on the radiative energy loss spectrum of a relativistic charge in an infinite, absorptive plasma is studied. We find increasing reduction of the spectrum with increasing damping. Our studies, which represent an Abelian approximation for the colour charge dynamics in the quark-gluon plasma, may influence the analysis of jet quenching phenomena observed in high-energy nuclear collisions. Here, we focus on a formal discussion of the limiting behaviour with increasing radiation frequency. In an absorptive (and polarizable) medium, this is determined by the behaviour of the exponential damping factor entering the spectrum and the formation time of radiation.