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In these proceedings, we compute the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient using QCD effective kinetic theory for a plasma going through the bottom-up thermalization scenario until approximate hydrodynamization. This transport coefficient describes heavy quark momentum diffusion in the quark-gluon plasma and is used in many phenomenological frameworks, e.g. in the open quantum systems approach. Our extracted nonthermal diffusion coefficient matches the thermal one for the same energy density within 30\%. At large occupation numbers in the earliest stage, the transverse diffusion coefficient dominates, while the longitudinal diffusion coefficient is larger for the underoccupied system in the later stage of hydrodynamization., Comment: 4 pages 3 figures, Proceedings for Quark Matter 2023

We study universal features of the hydrodynamization process in heavy-ion collisions using QCD kinetic theory simulations for a wide range of couplings. We introduce the new concept of limiting attractors, which are obtained by extrapolation to vanishing and strong couplings. While the hydrodynamic limiting attractor emerges at strong couplings and is governed by the viscosity-related relaxation time scale $\tau_R$, we identify a bottom-up limiting attractor at weak couplings. It corresponds to the late stages of the perturbative bottom-up thermalization scenario and exhibits isotropization on the time scale $\tau_{\text{BMSS}} = \alpha_s^{-13/5}/Q_s$. In contrast to hydrodynamic limiting attractors, at finite couplings the bottom-up limiting attractor provides a good universal description of the pre-hydrodynamic evolution of jet and heavy-quark momentum broadening ratios $\hat q^{yy} / \hat q^{zz}$ and $\kappa_T/\kappa_z$. We also provide parametrizations for these ratios for phenomenological studies of pre-equilibrium effects on jets and heavy quarks., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

We derive an expression for the energy-momentum tensor in the discrete lattice formulation of pure glue QCD. The resulting expression satisfies the continuity equation for energy conservation up to numerical errors with a symmetric procedure for the time discretization. In the case of the momentum conservation equation, we obtain an expression that is of higher accuracy in lattice spacing ($\mathcal{O}(a^2)$) than the naive discretization where fields in the continuum expressions are replaced by discretized counterparts. The improvements are verified by performing numerical tests on the derived expressions using classical real-time lattice gauge theory simulations. We demonstrate substantial reductions in relative error of one to several orders of magnitude compared to a naive discretization for both energy and momentum conservation equations. We expect our formulation to have applications in the area of pre-equilibrium dynamics in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, in particular for the extraction of transport coefficients such as shear viscosity., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures

We study the jet quenching parameter $\hat q$ in a non-equilibrium plasma using the QCD effective kinetic theory. We discuss subleading terms at large jet momentum p, show that our expression for $\hat q$ reproduces thermal results at small and large transverse momentum cutoffs for infinite p and construct an interpolation between these limits to be used in phenomenological applications. Using simple non-equilibrium distributions that model pertinent features of the bottom-up thermalization scenario, we analytically assess how anisotropy, under- or overoccupation affect the jet quenching parameter. Our work provides more details on the $\hat q$ formula used in our preceding work [arXiv:2303.12595] and sets the stage for further numerical studies of jet momentum broadening in the initial stages of heavy-ion collisions from QCD kinetic theory., Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PRD

We compute the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient using effective kinetic theory for a system going through bottom-up isotropization until approximate hydrodynamization. We find that when comparing the nonthermal diffusion coefficient to the thermal one for the same energy density, the observed deviations throughout the whole evolution are within 30% from the thermal value. For thermal systems matched to other quantities we observe considerably larger deviations. We also observe that the diffusion coefficient in the transverse direction dominates at large occupation number, whereas for an underoccupied system the longitudinal diffusion coefficient dominates. Similarly, we study the jet quenching parameter, where we obtain a smooth evolution connecting the large values of the glasma phase with the smaller values in the hydrodynamical regime., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, proceedings for the 11th International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (Hard Probes 2023)

We compute the heavy quark momentum diffusion coefficient $\kappa$ using QCD kinetic theory for a system going through bottom-up isotropization in the initial stages of a heavy ion collision. We find that the values of $\kappa$ are within 30% from a thermal system at the same energy density. When matching for other quantities we observe considerably larger deviations. We also observe that the diffusion coefficient in the transverse direction is larger at high occupation numbers, whereas for an underoccupied system the longitudinal diffusion coefficient dominates. The behavior of the diffusion coefficient can be understood on a qualitative level based on the Debye mass $m_D$ and the effective temperature of soft modes $T_*$. Our results for the kinetic evolution of $\kappa$ in different directions can be used in phenomenological descriptions of heavy quark diffusion and quarkonium dynamics to include the impact of pre-equilibrium stages., Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, v2: sec IV added including new figures, accepted for publication in PRD

We study the jet quenching parameter $\hat q$ in the initial pre-equilibrium stages of heavy-ion collisions using the QCD kinetic theory description of the anisotropic quark-gluon plasma. This allows us to smoothly close the gap in the literature between the early glasma stage of the collision and the onset of hydrodynamics. We find that the pre-hydrodynamic evolution of $\hat q$ during the bottom-up kinetic scenario shows little sensitivity to the initial conditions, jet energies and models of the transverse momentum cutoff. We also observe that, similarly to the glasma case, the jet quenching parameter is enhanced along the beam axis as compared to the transverse direction during most of the kinetic evolution., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; v2: Appendix C and D added including 2 new figures, slightly changed linestyles in various figures, minor changes in introduction and conclusion section. Accepted for publication in PLB. Scripts and values for coefficients a,b can be found in https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10419537 and the code is available in https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10409474

We present a new method to obtain spectral properties of a non-Abelian gauge theory in the region where occupation numbers are high. The method to measure the (single-particle) spectral function is based on linear response theory and classical-statistical lattice simulations. Although we apply it to a system far from equilibrium in a self-similar regime, the extracted spectral function can be understood within the hard thermal loop (HTL) formalism and can thus be connected to thermal equilibrium at high temperatures. This allows us to obtain quantities like the lifetime of quasiparticles that are beyond the leading order and difficult to compute within HTL. The approach has the potential to measure transport coefficients, to study the earliest stages of heavy-ion collisions in a controlled way and it can be employed beyond the range of validity of HTL., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of the International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions - Hard Probes 2018

We apply classical gluodynamics to early stages of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. We start by going through the space-time evolution of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions in the color glass condensate framework and the basics of real-time gluodynamics on the lattice in the temporal gauge. We study the plasmon mass scale in three- and two-dimensional systems by comparing three different methods to measure the mass scale. The methods are a formula which can be derived from Hard Thermal Loop effective theory at leading order (HTL), the effective dispersion relation (DR) and measurement of the plasma oscillation frequency triggered by the introduction of a uniform electric field (UE) into the system. We observe that in both systems the plasmon mass scale decreases like a power law after an occupation number dependent initial transient time. In both cases the UE and HTL methods are in rough agreement, and in the three-dimensional case the two agree in the continuum limit. As a second way to study the quasiparticle properties, we derive, implement and test an algorithm which can be used to simulate linearized fluctuations on top of the classical background. The algorithm is derived by requiring conservation of Gauss' law and gauge invariance. We then apply the algorithm to spectral properties of overoccupied gluodynamics using linear response theory. We establish the existence of transverse and longitudinal quasiparticles by extracting their spectral functions. We also extract the dispersion relation, effective mass, plasmon mass and damping rate of the quasiparticles. Our results are consistent with the HTL effective theory, but we also observe effects beyond leading order HTL., Comment: PhD thesis, University of Jyv\"askyl\"a research report no. 7/2018

We study the plasmon mass scale in weakly coupled strongly interacting nonabelian gauge theory in a two dimensional configuration that mimics the boost invariant initial color fields in a heavy ion collision. We numerically measure the plasmon mass scale using three different methods: a Hard Thermal Loop (HTL) expression involving the quasiparticle spectrum constructed from Coulomb gauge field correlators, an effective dispersion relation and the measurement of oscillations between electric and magnetic energies after introducing a spatially uniform perturbation to the electric field. We find that the hard thermal loop expression and the uniform electric field measurement are in rough agreement. The effective dispersion relation agrees with other methods within a factor of two. We also study the dependence on time and occupation number, observing similar trends as in three spatial dimensions, where a power law dependence sets in after an occupation number dependent transient time. We observe a decrease of the plasmon mass squared as $t^{\frac{-1}{3}}$ at late times., Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, matches published version

Classical real-time lattice simulations play an important role in understanding non-equilibrium phenomena in gauge theories and are used in particular to model the prethermal evolution of heavy-ion collisions. Above the Debye scale the classical Yang-Mills (CYM) theory can be matched smoothly to kinetic theory. First we study the limits of the quasiparticle picture of the CYM fields by determining the plasmon mass of the system using 3 different methods. Then we argue that one needs a numerical calculation of a system of classical gauge fields and small linearized fluctuations which correspond to quantum fluctuations, in a way that keeps the separation between the two manifest. We demonstrate and test an implementation of an algorithm with the linearized fluctuations showing that the linearization indeed works and the Gauss's law is conserved., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

Classical lattice Yang-Mills calculations provide a good way to understand different nonequilibrium phenomena in nonperturbatively overoccupied systems. Above the Debye scale the classical theory can be matched smoothly to kinetic theory. The aim of this work is to study the limits of this quasiparticle picture by determining the plasmon mass in classical real time Yang-Mills theory on a lattice in 3 spatial dimensions. We compare three methods to determine the plasmon mass: a hard thermal loop expression in terms of the particle distribution, an effective dispersion relation constructed from fields and their time derivatives, and by measuring oscillations between electric and magnetic field modes after artificially introducing a homogeneous color electric field. We find that a version of the dispersion relation that uses electric fields and their time derivatives agrees with the other methods within 50%., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

Classical real-time lattice simulations play an important role in understanding non-equilibrium phenomena in gauge theories and are used in particular to model the prethermal evolution of heavy-ion collisions. Due to instabilities, small quantum fluctuations on top of the classical background may significantly affect the dynamics of the system. In this paper we argue for the need for a numerical calculation of a system of classical gauge fields and small linearized fluctuations in a way that keeps the separation between the two manifest. We derive and test an explicit algorithm to solve these equations on the lattice, maintaining gauge invariance and Gauss's law., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, v2: typos corrected, references added