Dragging and quenching in a strongly coupled anisotropic plasma

by Mariano Chernicoff (Univ. of Barcelona and DAMTP, Cambridge)

Monday 7 May 2012, 13:30 → 14:30 Europe/Stockholm

A5:1041

We calculate the drag force experienced by an infinitely massive quark propagating at constant velocity through an anisotropic, strongly coupled N=4 plasma by means of its gravity dual. We find that the gluon cloud trailing behind the quark is generally misaligned with the quark velocity, and that the latter is also misaligned with the force. The drag coefficient can be larger or smaller than the corresponding isotropic value depending on the velocity and the direction of motion. We also calculate the jet quenching parameter of the anisotropic thermal medium. We present the results for arbitrary orientations and arbitrary values of the anisotropy. We compare our results to analogous calculations for the real-world quark-gluon plasma and find agreement in some cases and disagreement in others.