Turbulent thermalization of weakly coupled non-abelian plasmas
Abstract
We study the dynamics of weakly coupled non-abelian plasmas within the frameworks of classical-statistical lattice gauge-theory and kinetic theory. We focus on a class of systems which are highly occupied, isotropic at all times and initially characterized by a single momentum scale. These represent an idealized version of the situation in relativistic heavy ion-collisions in the color-glass condensate picture, where on a time scale
1/
Q
s
after the collision of heavy nuclei a longitudinally expanding plasma characterized by the saturation scale
Q
s
is formed. Our results indicate that the system evolves according to a turbulent Kolmogorov cascade in the classical regime. Taking this into account, the kinetic description is able to reproduce characteristic features of the evolution correctly.