JIMWLK evolution: from color charges to rapidity correlations

We study multi-particle production with rapidity correlations in high-energy p+A collisions. In the context of the Color Glass Condensate, the evolution for such correlations is governed by a generalization of the JIMWLK equation which evolves the strong nuclear fields both in the amplitude and in the complex conjugate one. We give the equivalent Langevin formulation, whose main ingredient is the color charge density linked to a projectile parton (a Wilson line).Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, based on talk given at Hard Probes 2013, 4 - 8 Nov 2013, Cape Town, South Afric

JIMWLK evolution for multi-particle production with rapidity correlations

We study multi-particle production with rapidity correlations in proton-nucleus collisions at high energy in the Color Glass Condensate framework. The high-energy evolution responsible for such correlations is governed by a generalization of the JIMWLK equation describing the simultaneous evolution of the strong nuclear color fields in the direct amplitude and the complex conjugate amplitude. This functional equation can be used to derive ordinary evolution equations for the cross-sections for particle production, but the ensuing equations appear to be too complicated to be useful in practice, including in the limit of a large number of colors Nc. We propose an alternative formulation based on a Langevin process, which is valid for generic Nc and is better suited for numerical implementations. For illustration, we present the stochastic equations which govern two gluon production with arbitrary rapidity separation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, based on talk given at IS 2013, 8 - 14 Sep 2013, Illa da Toxa, Spai

Running coupling effects in the evolution of jet quenching

We study the consequences of including the running of the QCD coupling in the equation describing the evolution of the jet quenching parameter $\hat q$ in the double logarithmic approximation. To start with, we revisit the case of a fixed coupling, for which we obtain exact solutions valid for generic values of the transverse momentum (above the medium saturation scale) and corresponding to various initial conditions. In the case of a running coupling, we construct approximate solutions in the form of truncated series obtained via successive iterations, whose convergence is well under control. We thus deduce the dominant asymptotic behavior of the renormalized $\hat q$ in the limit of a large evolution time $Y\equiv\ln(L/\lambda)$, with $L$ the size of the medium and $\lambda$ the typical wavelength of a medium constituent. We show that the asymptotic expansion is universal with respect to the choice of the initial condition at $Y=0$ and, moreover, it is remarkably similar to the corresponding expansion for the saturation momentum of a shockwave (a large nucleus). As expected, the running of the coupling significantly slows down the increase of $\hat q$ with $Y$ in the asymptotic regime at $Y\gg 1$. For the phenomenologically interesting value $Y\simeq 3$, we find an enhancement factor close to 3, independently of the initial condition and for both fixed and running coupling.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure

JIMWLK evolution for multi-particle production in Langevin form

Within the effective theory for the Color Glass Condensate, we study multi-particle production with rapidity correlations in proton-nucleus collisions at high energy. The high-energy evolution responsible for such correlations is governed by a generalization of the JIMWLK equation which describes the simultaneous evolution of the (strong) nuclear color fields in the direct amplitude and the complex conjugate amplitude. This functional equation can be used to derive ordinary evolution equations for the cross-sections for particle production (a generalization of the Balitsky hierarchy). However, the ensuing equations appear to be too complicated to be useful in practice, including in the limit where the number of colors is large. To circumvent this problem, we propose an alternative formulation of the high-energy evolution as a Langevin process, which is better suited for numerical implementations. This process is directly oriented towards the calculation of the cross-sections, so its detailed structure depends upon the nature of the final state. We present the stochastic equations appropriate for two gluon production, and also for three gluon production, with generic rapidity differences.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Are there monojets in high-energy proton-nucleus collisions?

We study high-energy proton-nucleus collisions within the Colour Glass Condensate framework, and compute the probabilities of having a definite number of scatterings in the nucleus with a momentum transfer larger than a given cut. Various properties of the distribution in the number of multiple scatterings are investigated, and we conclude that events with monojets are very unlikely, except for extreme values of the saturation scale Qs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps-figures. Talk given at Quark Matter 2006, Shanghai, 14-20 Nov. 200

From Classical to Quantum Saturation in the Nuclear Gluon Distribution

We study the gluon content of a large nucleus (i) in the semi-classical McLerran-Venugopalan model and (ii) in the high energy limit as given by the quantum evolution of the Color Glass Condensate. We give a simple and qualitative description of the Cronin effect and high-pT suppression in proton-nucleus collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, To appear in the Proceedings of International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High Energy Nuclear Collisions (HP2004), Ericeira, Portugal, 4-10 Nov, 200

High-enegy effective action from scattering of QCD shock waves

At high energies, the relevant degrees of freedom are Wilson lines - infinite gauge links ordered along straight lines collinear to the velocities of colliding particles. The effective action for these Wilson lines is determined by the scattering of QCD shock waves. I develop the symmetric expansion of the effective action in powers of strength of one of the shock waves and calculate the leading term of the series. The corresponding first-order effective action, symmetric with respect to projectile and target, includes both up and down fan diagrams and pomeron loops.Comment: 15 pages, 10 eps figure

Jet evolution from weak to strong coupling

Recent studies, using the AdS/CFT correspondence, of the radiation produced by a decaying system or by an accelerated charge in the N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, led to a striking result: the 'supergravity backreaction', which is supposed to describe the energy density at infinitely strong coupling, yields exactly the same result as at zero coupling, that is, it shows no trace of quantum broadening. We argue that this is not a real property of the radiation at strong coupling, but an artifact of the backreaction calculation, which is unable to faithfully capture the space-time distribution of the radiation. This becomes obvious in the case of a decaying system ('virtual photon'), for which the backreaction is tantamount to computing a three-point function in the conformal gauge theory, which is independent of the coupling since protected by symmetries. Whereas this non-renormalization property is specific to the conformal N=4 SYM theory, we argue that the failure of the three-point function to provide a local measurement is in fact generic: it holds in any field theory with non-trivial interactions. To properly study a localized distribution, one should rather compute a four-point function, as standard in deep inelastic scattering. We substantiate these considerations with studies of the radiation produced by the decay of a time-like photon at both weak and strong coupling. We show that by computing four-point functions, in perturbation theory at weak coupling and, respectively, from Witten diagrams at strong coupling, one can follow the quantum evolution and thus demonstrate the broadening of the energy distribution. This broadening is slow when the coupling is weak but it proceeds as fast as possible in the limit of a strong coupling.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figure