Optical properties of an anisotropic hot QCD medium

Abstract

The present investigation involves explorations on the chromo-dielectric properties of the hot QCD medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions in terms of refractive index. The isotropic/equilibrium modelling is done within an effective quasi-particle model of hot QCD medium. The possibilities of negative refraction in the medium are also explored in terms of the Depine–Lakhtakia index. The anisotropic aspects of the hot QCD medium are incorporated by introducing the anisotropy in a particular direction. That makes the medium quite similar to uniaxial crystals, and hence we observe the phenomenon of birefringence (two distinct refractive indices in the anisotropic case). Interestingly, both anisotropy and medium effects play significant roles in deciding the optical properties of the hot QCD/quark–gluon-plasma medium.