Hot Quarks 2010 IOP Publishing

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 270 (2011) 012009 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/270/1/012009

On jet structure in the QGP

Mehtar-Tani Y
Departamento de Fı́sica de Partı́culas and IGFAE
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
E-15782 Santiago de Compostela Spain
E-mail: ymehtar@gmail.com

Abstract. We investigate the gluon radiation pattern of a quark-antiquark pair traversing

a dense QCD medium at high energy. We show that the medium-induced gluon radiation
spectrum is logarithmically divergent and that the angular distribution exhibits an anti-angular
ordering of soft-gluon emissions in contrast with angular ordering in in-vacuum radiation.

1. Introduction
The study of jets in the heavy-ion program at the LHC is of a great importance, as it provides us
with probes of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). However, whereas jets observables in the vacuum
are well understood theoretically to a very high accuracy [1, 2, 3], medium-jet modification is
still at its early stages [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. As an attempt toward understanding jets in the QGP
from first principles we have proposed in a recent work [10] to study a simple process, namely
gluon radiation off a pair quark-antiquark (q q̄), in color singlet state, passing through a QCD
medium. The aim is to gain insight on in-medium jet dynamics.
The q q̄ pair, with momenta p ≡ (E, p) and p̄ ≡ (Ē, p̄), respectively, is assumed to be in a singlet
state. In case of gluon radiation in the vacuum, the cross-section exhibits a soft and a collinear
singularity. Namely, when the emitted gluon of momentum k ≡ (ω, k), is collinear to either the
quark or the anti-quark and when its energy ω → 0. The collinear poles can be split into two
terms: independent emissions from the quark and from the anti-quark, dN ≡ dNq + dNq̄ , with

αs CF dω sin θdθ
dNq = Θ(cos θ − cos θqq̄ ), (1)
2 ω 1 − cos θ
where θ is the angle between the gluon and the quark and θqq̄ is the angle formed by the pair,
where the azimuthal angle has been integrated out. We see that gluons are coherently emitted
inside the cone delimited by the pair. This coherence is responsible for the depletion of soft
emissions leading to the so-called humpbacked plateau.

2. Classical Yang-Mills Equations (CYM)

Let us return now to the case of medium induced gluon radiation off the pair. In the classical
Yang-Mills (CYM) equation framework [8], which holds for soft gluon radiation, the amplitude
of emission of a gluon is related to the classical gauge field by the reduction formula

Maλ (k) = lim −k 2 Aaµ (k)µλ (k), (2)

k2 →0

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1

Hot Quarks 2010 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 270 (2011) 012009 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/270/1/012009

where µλ (k) is the gluon polarization vector. The gauge field, Aµ ≡ Aµ,a ta , where ta is the
generator of SU(3) in the fundamental representation, is the solution of the CYM equations,
[Dµ , F µν ] = J ν , with Dµ ≡ ∂µ − igAµ and Fµν ≡ ∂µ Aν − ∂ν Aµ − ig[Aµ , Aν ]. The covariantly
conserved current, i.e., [Dµ , J µ ] = 0, describes the projectiles. Furthermore, we shall set our
calculation in the light-cone gauge (LCG), A+ = 0. The classical eikonalized current that
describes the pair created at time t0 = 0 inside the medium reads Jpµ = Jqµ + Jq̄µ , where
µ
Jqµ = g pE δ (3) (x − Ep
t) Θ(t) Cqa ta and analogously for the anti-quark, where Cq = −Cq̄ = C is the
quark and anti-quark color charge, respectively. In Fourier space the total current reads

pµ p̄µ
 
µ
Jp (k) = ig − C a ta . (3)
p · k + i p̄ · k + i

We assume that the q q̄ pair moves in the +z direction and interacts with a medium moving in
the opposite direction at nearly the speed of light. This approximation is valid as long as the
pair opening angle θqq̄ → 0 and at asymptotic energies [4, 6, 8]. Also, we restrict our calculation,
for simplicity, to one gluon exchange with the medium. To do so, the pair field is treated as a
perturbation around the strong medium field A0 . In the asymptotic limit, the medium gauge field
can be described by A− + 2 − +
0 (x , x⊥ ) which is a solution to the Poisson equation −∂⊥ A0 (x , x⊥ ) =
+
ρ0 (x , x⊥ ), where the medium source density in treated as a Gaussian white noise, while
− − +
Ai0 = A+ (q) = 2π δ(q + ) dx+ A0 (x+ , q ⊥ ) eiq x .
R
0 = 0 [8]. In Fourier space it reads A0 √
In the present approximation t ≈ z, thus, x+ ≈ 2z. The medium average is defined as
hAa0 (x+ , q ⊥ )A∗b 0+ 0 ab 2 + 0+ 2 (2) 0
0 (x , q ⊥ )i ≡ δ n0 mD δ(x − x )(2π) δ (q ⊥ − q ⊥ )V(q ⊥ ) , where V(q ⊥ ) =
1/(q 2⊥ +m2D )2 is the Coulomb potential, mD is the Debye mass and n0 is the 1-dimensional density
of scattering centers. At first order in opacity the continuity relation reads ∂µ J1µ = ig[A− +
0 , Jp ]
which is solved by
pµ p̄µ
J1µ = ig [A− +
0 , Jq ] + ig [A− +
0 , Jq̄ ]. (4)
p·∂ p̄ · ∂
 ∂i +
Then, the transverse part of the CYM equations read Ai1 = 2ig A− + i i

0 , ∂ Ap − ∂ + J1 + J1 . In
fourier space we obtain

d4 q  − ki +
Z
2 i + i
J (k) + J1i (k) .

−k A1 (k) = 2g A 0 (q), (q − k) A p (k − q) − (5)
(2π)4 k+ 1

After performing the q + and q − integrals we obtain the amplitude for gluon radiation off the
quark, via Eq. (2),
L+
d2 q ⊥ νi  κi i p·v
Z Z  
i p·v
+x
+
+x
+ − +
Mi,a 2 abc c
q,1 = ig f C dx +
Ab0 (x+ , q ⊥ )
1−e p + e p ei(k−v) x (6)
(2π)2
0 p·v p·k

where v ≡ v + = k + , v − = v 2⊥ 2k + , v ⊥ = k⊥ − q ⊥ , ν ⊥ = p+ v ⊥ /k + −p⊥ and κ⊥ = p+ k⊥ /k + −



p⊥ . Here, the subindex
√ 1 in the l.h.s of Eq. (6) stands for the first order in the medium
field A0 . L+ = 2L is the medium size. The amplitude for gluon radiation off the anti-
quark is deduced from Mq by the substitution p → p̄ and C → −C. The first term in
Eq. (6) corresponds to the interaction of the emitted gluon with the medium, denoted Mgq ,
while the second term corresponds to the interaction of the quark before the bremsstrahlung
emission of the gluon, denoted Mbrem q . The cross-section is obtained after squaring M1 ,
plus terms of the type M M ∗ which simply lead to a redefinition of the potential such that
R 2 0
V(q ⊥ ) → V(q ⊥ )−δ(q ⊥ ) d2 q 0⊥ V(q 0⊥ ), they insure that the spectrum is finite in the limit q ⊥ → 0.
Here, M2 and M0 are the amplitudes at second and zeroth order in A0 , respectively.

2
Hot Quarks 2010 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 270 (2011) 012009 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/270/1/012009

Interestingly, the interference of bremsstrahlung gluons off the quark and anti-quark, given
by Ibrems = 2 Re Mbrem
q M∗brem
q̄ , exhibits a soft divergency and thus will dominate at small ω,

L+
dN soft 8πCA CF αs2 n0 m2D κ⊥ · κ̄⊥
Z Z
dq ⊥
dx+ cos Ω0 x+ +


ω = V(q ⊥ ) 1 − cos ∆Ω x , (7)
d3 k (2π)2 (p · k)(p̄ · k) 0 (2π)2

where we have written the contact term explicitly, and where

p · k p̄ · k p⊥ · q ⊥ p̄⊥ · q ⊥ p+ p̄+
Ω0 = − , ∆Ω = − , κ ⊥ · κ̄ ⊥ = −p · p̄ + p̄ · k + p · k . (8)
p+ p̄+ p+ p̄+ k+ k+

The soft divergency in Eq. (7) is manifest. Note that in the soft limit Ω0qq̄ → 0 the integrals in
Eq. (7) are straightforward, yiedling

L+
L+ r⊥
2  
   
p̄⊥ · q ⊥ +
Z Z
+ dq ⊥ 1
dx V(q ⊥ ) 1 − cos x ≈ ln + const. , (9)
0 (2π)2 p̄+ 24π r⊥ mD

where we have assumed the quark momentum to be along the z axis for simplicity, i.e.,
p⊥ = p− = 0. Note that, the r.h.s of Eq. (9) is proportional to the forward dipole scattering
amplitude for a dipole of size r⊥ = θqq̄ L.

3. Angular structure of the antenna in the medium

Let us finally  the angular structure. In the small angle limit θqq̄  1 and θ  1, we
 turn to
simplify p+ k + ≈ E ω, getting

κ⊥ · κ̄⊥ nq · nq̄ − nq · n − nq̄ · n

P med ≡ − = , (10)
(p · k)(p̄ · k) (nq · n)(nq̄ · n)

where nq ≡ p/E, nq̄ ≡ p̄/Ē and n ≡ k/ω. Yet, dividing this symmetrically into a quark and
an antiquark part contribution, with Pqmed = P med 2, and averaging over the azimuthal angle


we obtain 2hPqmed i = −Θ(cos θqq̄ − cos θ) (1 − cos θ). Surprisingly, the medium-induced soft

gluon radiation off the quark is suppressed inside the cone of opening angle θqq̄ , as opposed
to the standard angular structure obtained in vacuum, see Eq. (1). Furthermore, due to this
feature the collinear pole present in Eq. (7) is automatically cut off. Thus, when ω → 0 the
medium-induced gluon emission off the quark can be written as

αs CF med dω sin θdθ

dNqmed = A Θ(cos θqq̄ − cos θ), (11)
2 ω 1 − cos θ

with Amed ' αs n0 m2D L+ r⊥ 2 ln 1 r m

 
 2
⊥ D + const. 6π . This demonstrates that there is a
strict geometrical separation between radiation in vacuum and in medium. In Fig. (1), the
gluon production cross-section off a q q̄ pair with opening angle θqq̄ = 0.1 traversing a medium
with thickness L = 4 fm (mD = 0.5 GeV, αs = 1/3 and n0 L = 1), is plotted as a function of
the angle θ for the energies, ω = 0.5 GeV and 2 GeV. The dotted(red) curves correspond to the
dominant contribution Eq. (7). Note that spectrum is indeed dominated by the bremsstrahlung
term Eq. (7). Inside the cone delimited by the pair, of opening angle θqq̄ , no radiation is allowed.
The distribution jumps from zero inside the cone to a maximum value at θ = θqq̄ , it drops then
as ∼ 1/θ for θ > θqq̄ . Indeed, this remarkable feature survives even at larger values of ω due to
some striking cancellations between different parts of the spectrum [10].

3
Hot Quarks 2010 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 270 (2011) 012009 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/270/1/012009

Sum, calc(y=y*cos(x))
ω = 0.5 GeV ω = 2 GeV
Quark interference, calc(y=y*cos(x)) ϑqq = 0.1
1 1 3000
GLV quark, calc(y=y*cos(x))
10000 GLV anti-quark, calc(y=y*cos(x))
Gluon interference, calc(y=y*cos(x))
2000
ω = 0.5 GeV ω = 2 GeV
ωωdN/dωdϑ
dN/dωdϑ

5000
0.5 0.5

ϑ
1000

0
0

0 0

-5000 -1000

0.010 0.2 0.4 0.6

0.10.8 1 1.2 1.41 1.6 0 0.2 0.1 0.6
0.4 0.8 1 1
1.2 1.4 1.6
ϑ ϑ
ϑ ϑ

Figure 1. Angular distribution of the gluon spectrum for ω = 0.5 GeV and ω = 2 GeV for a
jet with opening angle θqq̄ = 0.1, see the text for details. The dotted (red) line corresponds to
the dominant contribution in the soft-limit, Ibrems , see Eq. (7), and the solid line corresponds
to the full spectrum.

4. Summary
To summarize we have shown that medium induced gluon radiation off a quark-antiquark pair
exhibits a logarithmic soft divergency, whereas the collinear singularity present in the vacuum
case, is cut off, leading to anti-angular ordering of gluon emissions. Important implications on
the phenomenology of jets in heavy-ion collisions are expected.

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