Thermal Time Scales in a Color Glass Condensate

Abstract

In a model of relativistic heavy ion collisions wherein the unconfined quark-gluon plasma is condensed into glass, we derive the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann cooling law. This law is well known to hold true in condensed matter glasses. The high energy plasma is initially created in a very hot negative temperature state and cools down to the Hagedorn glass temperature at an ever decreasing rate. The cooling rate is largely determined by the QCD string tension derived from hadronic Regge trajectories. The ultimately slow relaxation time is a defining characteristic of a color glass condensate.