Modified Boltzmann approach for modeling the splitting vertices induced by the hot QCD medium in the deep Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal region

Hard probes produced in perturbative processes are excellent probes for the study of the hot and dense QCD matter created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Transport theory, allowing for coupling to an evolving medium with fluctuating initial conditions, has become a powerful tool in this endeavor. However, the implementation of the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect for medium-induced parton bremsstrahlung and pair production poses a challenge to semiclassical transport models based on Boltzmann-type transport equations. In this work, we investigate a possible solution to approximate the LPM effect in a "modified Boltzmann transport" approach, including a prescription for the running coupling constant. By fixing a numerical parameter, this approach quantitatively reproduces the rates of medium-induced parton splitting predicted by the next-to-leading-log solution of the Arnold-Moore-Yaffe equation, which is valid in the deep-LPM regime of an infinite medium. We also find qualitative agreement of our implementation with calculations in a finite and expanding medium, but future improvements are necessary for added precision at small path length. This work benefits transport model-based studies and the usage of these models in the phenomenological extraction of the jet transport coefficient.

Duke Scholars

Author Steffen A. Bass Physics