Thermalization of mini-jets in a quark-gluon plasma

Abstract

We present the complete physical picture for the evolution of a high-energy jet propagating through a weakly-coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP) by analytical and numerical investigation of thermalization of the soft components of the jet. Our results support the following physical picture: the leading particle emits a significant number of mini-jets which promptly evolve via multiple branching and thus degrade into a myriad of soft gluons, with energies of the order of the medium temperature $T$. Via elastic collisions with the medium constituents, these soft gluons relax to local thermal equilibrium with the plasma over a time scale which is considerably shorter than the typical lifetime of the mini-jet. The thermalized gluons form a tail which lags behind the hard components of the jet. Together with the background QGP, they behave hydrodynamically.