An Effective Field Theory Study of Medium Heavy Quark Evolution

Abstract

The evolution of hard probes in a medium is a complex multiscale problem that significantly benefits from the use of Effective Field Theories (EFTs). Within the EFT framework, we aim to define a series of EFTs in a way that addresses each energy scale individually in separate steps. However, studying hard probes in a medium presents challenges. This is because an EFT is typically constructed by formulating the most general Lagrangian compatible with the problem’s symmetries. Nevertheless, medium effects may not always be encoded adequately in an effective action. In this paper, we construct an EFT that is valid for studying the evolution of a heavy quark in a QCD plasma containing few other heavy quarks, where degrees of freedom with an energy of the order of the temperature scale are integrated out. Through this example, we explicitly demonstrate how to handle the doubling of degrees that arise in non-equilibrium field theory. As a result, we derive a Fokker–Planck equation using only symmetry and power counting arguments. The methods introduced in this paper will pave the way for future developments in the study of quarkonium suppression.