Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On the beaming of gluonic fields at strong coupling

  • Published:
Journal of High Energy Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examine the conditions for beaming of the gluonic field sourced by a heavy quark in strongly-coupled conformal field theories, using the AdS/CFT correspondence. Previous works have found that, contrary to naive expectations, it is possible to set up collimated beams of gluonic radiation despite the strong coupling. We show that, on the gravity side of the correspondence, this follows directly (for arbitrary quark motion, and independently of any approximations) from the fact that the string dual to the quark remains unexpectedly close to the AdS boundary whenever the quark moves ultra-relativistically. We also work out the validity conditions for a related approximation scheme that proposed to explain the beaming effect though the formation of shock waves in the bulk fields emitted by the string. We find that these conditions are fulfilled in the case of ultra-relativistic uniform circular motion that motivated the proposal, but unfortunately do not hold for much more general quark trajectories.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. J.M. Maldacena, The large-N limit of superconformal field theories and supergravity, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2 (1998) 231 [Int. J. Theor. Phys. 38 (1999) 1113] [hep-th/9711200] [INSPIRE].

  2. S. Gubser, I.R. Klebanov and A.M. Polyakov, Gauge theory correlators from noncritical string theory, Phys. Lett. B 428 (1998) 105 [hep-th/9802109] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. E. Witten, Anti-de Sitter space and holography, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2 (1998) 253 [hep-th/9802150] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. O. Aharony, S.S. Gubser, J.M. Maldacena, H. Ooguri and Y. Oz, Large-N field theories, string theory and gravity, Phys. Rept. 323 (2000) 183 [hep-th/9905111] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. C.G. Callan Jr. and A. Guijosa, Undulating strings and gauge theory waves, Nucl. Phys. B 565 (2000) 157 [hep-th/9906153] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. K. Maeda and T. Okamura, Radiation from an accelerated quark in AdS/CFT, Phys. Rev. D 77 (2008) 126002 [arXiv:0712.4120] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Y. Hatta, E. Iancu and A.H. Mueller, Jet evolution in the N = 4 SYM plasma at strong coupling, JHEP 05 (2008) 037 [arXiv:0803.2481] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Y. Hatta and T. Matsuo, Jet fragmentation and gauge/string duality, Phys. Lett. B 670 (2008) 150 [arXiv:0804.4733] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. E. Avsar, E. Iancu, L. McLerran and D. Triantafyllopoulos, Shockwaves and deep inelastic scattering within the gauge/gravity duality, JHEP 11 (2009) 105 [arXiv:0907.4604] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. B. Müller, Parton energy loss in strongly coupled AdS/CFT, Nucl. Phys. A 855 (2011) 74 [arXiv:1010.4258] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. E. Iancu, Parton branching and medium-induced radiation in a strongly coupled plasma, Nucl. Phys. A 855 (2011) 331 [arXiv:1012.3527] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. C. Athanasiou, P.M. Chesler, H. Liu, D. Nickel and K. Rajagopal, Synchrotron radiation in strongly coupled conformal field theories, Phys. Rev. D 81 (2010) 126001 [Erratum ibid. D 84 (2011)069901] [arXiv:1001.3880] [INSPIRE].

  13. K.B. Fadafan, H. Liu, K. Rajagopal and U.A. Wiedemann, Stirring strongly coupled plasma, Eur. Phys. J. C 61 (2009) 553 [arXiv:0809.2869] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. M. Chernicoff and A. Paredes, Accelerated detectors and worldsheet horizons in AdS/CFT, JHEP 03 (2011) 063 [arXiv:1011.4206] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. M. Ali-Akbari and U. Gürsoy, Rotating strings and energy loss in non-conformal holography, JHEP 01 (2012) 105 [arXiv:1110.5881] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. E. Kiritsis and G. Pavlopoulos, Heavy quarks in a magnetic field, JHEP 04 (2012) 096 [arXiv:1111.0314] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. K.B. Fadafan and H. Soltanpanahi, Energy loss in a strongly coupled anisotropic plasma, JHEP 10 (2012) 085 [arXiv:1206.2271] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. V.E. Hubeny, Relativistic beaming in AdS/CFT, arXiv:1011.1270 [INSPIRE].

  19. V.E. Hubeny, Holographic dual of collimated radiation, New J. Phys. 13 (2011) 035006 [arXiv:1012.3561] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. C. Herzog, A. Karch, P. Kovtun, C. Kozcaz and L. Yaffe, Energy loss of a heavy quark moving through N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma, JHEP 07 (2006) 013 [hep-th/0605158] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. S.S. Gubser, Drag force in AdS/CFT, Phys. Rev. D 74 (2006) 126005 [hep-th/0605182] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. J. Casalderrey-Solana and D. Teaney, Heavy quark diffusion in strongly coupled N = 4 Yang-Mills, Phys. Rev. D 74 (2006) 085012 [hep-ph/0605199] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. H. Liu, K. Rajagopal and U.A. Wiedemann, Calculating the jet quenching parameter from AdS/CFT, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 (2006) 182301 [hep-ph/0605178] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. J. Casalderrey-Solana, H. Liu, D. Mateos, K. Rajagopal and U.A. Wiedemann, Gauge/string duality, hot QCD and heavy ion collisions, arXiv:1101.0618 [INSPIRE].

  25. V.E. Hubeny and M. Rangamani, A Holographic view on physics out of equilibrium, Adv. High Energy Phys. 2010 (2010) 297916 [arXiv:1006.3675] [INSPIRE].

    Google Scholar 

  26. J.J. Friess, S.S. Gubser, G. Michalogiorgakis and S.S. Pufu, The stress tensor of a quark moving through N = 4 thermal plasma, Phys. Rev. D 75 (2007) 106003 [hep-th/0607022] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. S.S. Gubser and S.S. Pufu, Master field treatment of metric perturbations sourced by the trailing string, Nucl. Phys. B 790 (2008) 42 [hep-th/0703090] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. A. Yarom, On the energy deposited by a quark moving in an N = 4 SYM plasma, Phys. Rev. D 75 (2007) 105023 [hep-th/0703095] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. S.S. Gubser, S.S. Pufu and A. Yarom, Energy disturbances due to a moving quark from gauge-string duality, JHEP 09 (2007) 108 [arXiv:0706.0213] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. P.M. Chesler and L.G. Yaffe, The wake of a quark moving through a strongly-coupled plasma, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 (2007) 152001 [arXiv:0706.0368] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. S.S. Gubser, S.S. Pufu and A. Yarom, Sonic booms and diffusion wakes generated by a heavy quark in thermal AdS/CFT, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (2008) 012301 [arXiv:0706.4307] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. S.S. Gubser and A. Yarom, Universality of the diffusion wake in the gauge-string duality, Phys. Rev. D 77 (2008) 066007 [arXiv:0709.1089] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. S.S. Gubser, S.S. Pufu and A. Yarom, Shock waves from heavy-quark mesons in AdS/CFT, JHEP 07 (2008) 108 [arXiv:0711.1415] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. P.M. Chesler and L.G. Yaffe, The stress-energy tensor of a quark moving through a strongly-coupled N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma: comparing hydrodynamics and AdS/CFT, Phys. Rev. D 78 (2008) 045013 [arXiv:0712.0050] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. J. Noronha, G. Torrieri and M. Gyulassy, Near zone Navier-Stokes analysis of heavy quark jet quenching in an N = 4 SYM plasma, Phys. Rev. C 78 (2008) 024903 [arXiv:0712.1053] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. P.M. Chesler, Y.-Y. Ho and K. Rajagopal, Shining a gluon beam through quark-gluon plasma, Phys. Rev. D 85 (2012) 126006 [arXiv:1111.1691] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. A. Mikhailov, Nonlinear waves in AdS/CFT correspondence, hep-th/0305196 [INSPIRE].

  38. M. Chernicoff and A. Guijosa, Acceleration, energy loss and screening in strongly-coupled gauge theories, JHEP 06 (2008) 005 [arXiv:0803.3070] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. L. Susskind and E. Witten, The holographic bound in Anti-de Sitter space, hep-th/9805114 [INSPIRE].

  40. A.W. Peet and J. Polchinski, UV/IR relations in AdS dynamics, Phys. Rev. D 59 (1999) 065011 [hep-th/9809022] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  41. M. Chernicoff, J.A. Garcia and A. Guijosa, Generalized Lorentz-Dirac equation for a strongly-coupled gauge theory, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (2009) 241601 [arXiv:0903.2047] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. M. Chernicoff, J.A. Garcia and A. Guijosa, A tail of a quark in N = 4 SYM, JHEP 09 (2009) 080 [arXiv:0906.1592] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. M. Chernicoff, J.A. Garcia, A. Guijosa and J.F. Pedraza, Holographic lessons for quark dynamics, J. Phys. G 39 (2012) 054002 [arXiv:1111.0872] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. U.H. Danielsson, E. Keski-Vakkuri and M. Kruczenski, Vacua, propagators and holographic probes in AdS/CFT, JHEP 01 (1999) 002 [hep-th/9812007] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. J.J. Friess, S.S. Gubser and G. Michalogiorgakis, Dissipation from a heavy quark moving through N = 4 super-Yang-Mills plasma, JHEP 09 (2006) 072 [hep-th/0605292] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. Y.-h. Gao, W.-s. Xu and D.-f. Zeng, Wake of color fields in charged N = 4 SYM plasmas, hep-th/0606266 [INSPIRE].

  47. A. Yarom, The high momentum behavior of a quark wake, Phys. Rev. D 75 (2007) 125010 [hep-th/0702164] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. M. Chernicoff, A. Guijosa and J.F. Pedraza, The gluonic field of a heavy quark in conformal field theories at strong coupling, JHEP 10 (2011) 041 [arXiv:1106.4059] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. I.R. Klebanov, World volume approach to absorption by nondilatonic branes, Nucl. Phys. B 496 (1997) 231 [hep-th/9702076] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. I.R. Klebanov, W. Taylor and M. Van Raamsdonk, Absorption of dilaton partial waves by D3-branes, Nucl. Phys. B 560 (1999) 207 [hep-th/9905174] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. S. Lin and E. Shuryak, Stress tensor of static dipoles in strongly coupled N = 4 gauge theory, Phys. Rev. D 76 (2007) 085014 [arXiv:0707.3135] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. Y. Hatta, E. Iancu, A.H. Mueller and D.N. Triantafyllopoulos, Aspects of the UV/IR correspondence: energy broadening and string fluctuations, JHEP 02 (2011) 065 [arXiv:1011.3763] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. Y. Hatta, E. Iancu, A.H. Mueller and D.N. Triantafyllopoulos, Radiation by a heavy quark in N = 4 SYM at strong coupling, Nucl. Phys. B 850 (2011) 31 [arXiv:1102.0232] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  54. V. Balasubramanian and P. Kraus, A stress tensor for Anti-de Sitter gravity, Commun. Math. Phys. 208 (1999) 413 [hep-th/9902121] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  55. S. de Haro, S.N. Solodukhin and K. Skenderis, Holographic reconstruction of space-time and renormalization in the AdS/CFT correspondence, Commun. Math. Phys. 217 (2001) 595 [hep-th/0002230] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  56. K. Skenderis, Asymptotically Anti-de Sitter space-times and their stress energy tensor, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 16 (2001) 740 [hep-th/0010138] [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  57. E. D’Hoker, D.Z. Freedman, S.D. Mathur, A. Matusis and L. Rastelli, Graviton and gauge boson propagators in AdS d+1, Nucl. Phys. B 562 (1999) 330 [hep-th/9902042] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  58. S.S. Gubser, Momentum fluctuations of heavy quarks in the gauge-string duality, Nucl. Phys. B 790 (2008) 175 [hep-th/0612143] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  59. J. Casalderrey-Solana and D. Teaney, Transverse momentum broadening of a fast quark in a N = 4 Yang-Mills plasma, JHEP 04 (2007) 039 [hep-th/0701123] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  60. F. Dominguez, C. Marquet, A.H. Mueller, B. Wu and B.-W. Xiao, Comparing energy loss and p ⊥-broadening in perturbative QCD with strong coupling N = 4 SYM theory, Nucl. Phys. A 811 (2008) 197 [arXiv:0803.3234] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  61. B.-W. Xiao, On the exact solution of the accelerating string in AdS 5 space, Phys. Lett. B 665 (2008) 173 [arXiv:0804.1343] [INSPIRE].

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  62. B. Zwiebach, A first course in string theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U.K. (2009).

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  63. P.C. Argyres, M. Edalati and J.F. Vázquez-Poritz, No-drag string configurations for steadily moving quark-antiquark pairs in a thermal bath, JHEP 01 (2007) 105 [hep-th/0608118] [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  64. D. Mateos, R.C. Myers and R.M. Thomson, Thermodynamics of the brane, JHEP 05 (2007) 067 [hep-th/0701132] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  65. Q.J. Ejaz, T. Faulkner, H. Liu, K. Rajagopal and U.A. Wiedemann, A limiting velocity for quarkonium propagation in a strongly coupled plasma via AdS/CFT, JHEP 04 (2008) 089 [arXiv:0712.0590] [INSPIRE].

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. P.C. Argyres, M. Edalati and J.F. Vazquez-Poritz, Lightlike Wilson loops from AdS/CFT, JHEP 03 (2008) 071 [arXiv:0801.4594] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  67. M. Hotta and M. Tanaka, Shock wave geometry with nonvanishing cosmological constant, Class. Quant. Grav. 10 (1993) 307 [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  68. G.T. Horowitz and N. Itzhaki, Black holes, shock waves and causality in the AdS/CFT correspondence, JHEP 02 (1999) 010 [hep-th/9901012] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  69. P. Aichelburg and R. Sexl, On the gravitational field of a massless particle, Gen. Rel. Grav. 2 (1971) 303 [INSPIRE].

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  70. E. Caceres, M. Chernicoff, A. Guijosa and J.F. Pedraza, Quantum fluctuations and the Unruh effect in strongly-coupled conformal field theories, JHEP 06 (2010) 078 [arXiv:1003.5332] [INSPIRE].

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  71. J.A. García, A. Güijosa and E.J. Pulido, No line on the horizon: on uniform acceleration and gluonic fields at strong coupling, arXiv:1210.4175 [INSPIRE].

  72. V.E. Hubeny and G.W. Semenoff, in preparation.

  73. J. Hovdebo, M. Kruczenski, D. Mateos, R.C. Myers and D. Winters, Holographic mesons: Adding flavor to the AdS/CFT duality, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 20 (2005) 3428 [INSPIRE].

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física de Altas Energías, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-543, México, D.F., 04510, México

    César A. Agón, Alberto Güijosa & Bryan O. Larios

  2. Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Ciudad Universitaria, Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., Honduras

    Bryan O. Larios

Authors
  1. César A. Agón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alberto Güijosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bryan O. Larios
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto Güijosa.

Additional information

ArXiv ePrint: 1206.5005

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Agón, C.A., Güijosa, A. & Larios, B.O. On the beaming of gluonic fields at strong coupling. J. High Energ. Phys. 2012, 101 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2012)101

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2012)101

Keywords

Search

Navigation