Probing Color Response - Wakes in a Color Plasma

Abstract

The wake induced in a hot QCD medium by a high momentum parton (jet precursor) is calculated in the framework of linear response theory. Two different scenarios are discussed: a weakly coupled quark gluon plasma (pQGP) as described by hard-thermal loop (HTL) perturbation theory and a strongly cupled QGP (sQGP) with the properties of a quantum liquid. In the latter case the wake could exhibit a pronounced Mach cone structure. This physical mechanism could be important for the understanding of preliminary data from the PHENIX and STAR experiments at RHIC on the angular distribution of low-pt secondaries stemming from the away-side jet which indicate maxima at $\Delta\phi=\pi \pm 1.1$.