On dissociation of heavy mesons in a hot quark-gluon plasma

We compare two mechanisms for the dissociation of heavy mesons in an infinite quark-gluon plasma: dynamic Debye screening and multiple scattering. Using the uncertainty principle inspired by a Schrodinger-like equation, we find that the criterion a(B) similar or equal to 1/mu similar or equal to 1/alpha(1/2)(eff) T with alpha(eff) equivalent to alpha(N-c + Nf/2) is parametrically true. both for the dissociation of fast moving heavy mesons with a size aB due to dynamic Debye screening as well as for mesons at rest in the medium. In contrast, we find that the criterion for the dissociation of heavy mesons due to uncorrelated multiple scattering is parametrically a(B) similar or equal to 1/[gamma alpha(eff) ln 1/alpha(eff)]T-1/3. Therefore, multiple scattering is a more efficient mechanism for the dissociation of heavy mesons in an infinite hot plasma. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.