Study of the heavy quarks energy loss through medium polarization, elastic collision and radiative processes

Abstract

Heavy quarks serve as crucial probes for exploring the properties of the hot and dense medium formed in heavy-ion collision experiments. Understanding the modification of their energy as they traverse the medium is a focal point of research, with various authors extensively studying this phenomenon. This study specifically concentrates on the equilibrium phase, the quark-gluon plasma, and offers a comparative analysis of heavy quark energy loss through medium polarization, elastic collisions, and radiation. Notably, while previous studies have compared polarization loss and radiation, our work extends this by incorporating elastic collisions for a more comprehensive examination. The significance of medium polarization, particularly at low momentum, is underscored, as it has been found to contribute substantially. The formalism for energy loss and drag coefficient in each case is presented, followed by the calculation of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) for a holistic comparative study.