Dissociation of Heavy Quarkonium in Quark-Gluon Plasma

Abstract

In this work we calculate the lifetime of quarkonium moving with velocity $v$ through a quark gluon plasma at temperature $T$. We also investigate the stability of heavy mesons with respect to the effects of color charge screening. An explicit, configuration-space potential is found for the screened interaction between the quarks constituting the meson. We solve the Schr\"odinger equation for the relative motion of the quarks in this non-spherical potential. In this way, we determine the range of $v,T$ values for which the meson is bound. When a bound state exists, we use the bound-state wavefunction as the initial state for the dissociation of the meson due to gluon absorption. The meson lifetime is thus determined as a function of $v$ and $T$, and conclusions are drawn concerning the possibility of detection of the meson in a high-energy heavy-nucleus collision.