Large Momenta Fluctuations Of Charm Quarks In The Quark-Gluon Plasma

Abstract

We show that large fluctuations of D mesons kinetic energy (or momentum) distributions might be a signature of a phase transition to the quark gluon plasma (QGP). In particular, a jump in the variance of the momenta or kinetic energy, as a function of a control parameter (temperature or Fermi energy at finite baryon densities) might be a signature for a first order phase transition to the QGP. This behaviour is completely consistent with the order parameter defined for a system of interacting quarks at zero temperature and finite baryon densities which shows a jump in correspondance to a first order phase transition to the QGP. The $J/\Psi$ shows exactly the same behavior of the order parameter and of the variance of the D mesons. We discuss implications for relativistic heavy ion collisions within the framework of a transport model and possible hints for experimental data.