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Signatures of local acceleration of quark-gluon plasma in the dilepton production

Aritra Bandyopadhyay, Moulindu Kundu, Victor E. Ambrus, Maxim N. Chernodub

TL;DR

This work investigates how local acceleration in a hot QCD medium affects dilepton production, a key observable for probing the Quark-Gluon Plasma. The authors treat acceleration as a small perturbation and compute the imaginary part of the electromagnetic current-current correlator via a thermal Dirac propagator in an accelerated frame within the imaginary-time formalism. They derive the leading and first-order corrections to the photon polarization tensor and find that weak acceleration enhances dilepton production at intermediate invariant masses, with a temperature- and momentum-dependent cutoff that is independent of the acceleration. The results provide a quantitative handle on acceleration effects in early-time heavy-ion collisions and point to future extensions, including arbitrary acceleration, polarization effects, and spacetime-dependent acceleration profiles.

Abstract

Dilepton production is one of the key probes of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) that encodes the imaginary part of the electromagnetic current-current correlator. We investigate the effect of local acceleration on the dilepton production by treating acceleration as a small perturbation. Using the thermal Dirac propagator in an accelerated frame within the imaginary-time formalism, we compute the photon polarization tensor and extract its imaginary part. Comparison with the zero-acceleration case isolates the distinct contributions of acceleration to dilepton yields.

Signatures of local acceleration of quark-gluon plasma in the dilepton production

TL;DR

This work investigates how local acceleration in a hot QCD medium affects dilepton production, a key observable for probing the Quark-Gluon Plasma. The authors treat acceleration as a small perturbation and compute the imaginary part of the electromagnetic current-current correlator via a thermal Dirac propagator in an accelerated frame within the imaginary-time formalism. They derive the leading and first-order corrections to the photon polarization tensor and find that weak acceleration enhances dilepton production at intermediate invariant masses, with a temperature- and momentum-dependent cutoff that is independent of the acceleration. The results provide a quantitative handle on acceleration effects in early-time heavy-ion collisions and point to future extensions, including arbitrary acceleration, polarization effects, and spacetime-dependent acceleration profiles.

Abstract

Dilepton production is one of the key probes of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) that encodes the imaginary part of the electromagnetic current-current correlator. We investigate the effect of local acceleration on the dilepton production by treating acceleration as a small perturbation. Using the thermal Dirac propagator in an accelerated frame within the imaginary-time formalism, we compute the photon polarization tensor and extract its imaginary part. Comparison with the zero-acceleration case isolates the distinct contributions of acceleration to dilepton yields.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 4 sections, 12 equations, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Formalism
  3. Results and Discussion
  4. Conclusion and Outlook

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: One-loop photon polarization tensor in a hot and weakly accelerated medium expanded in the orders of the acceleration $\alpha$.
  • Figure 2: Dilepton production rate as a function of invariant dilepton mass for a weakly accelerating medium (${\rm DR}_{(\alpha)}$) shown in comparison with the Born dilepton rate (${\rm DR}_{(0)}$), (the left panel) at different temperatures $T$ and (the right panel) at various accelerations $a \equiv \alpha T$.