Jet Quenching Parameter via Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET)

Abstract

We analyze the transverse momentum broadening in the absence of radiation of an energetic parton propagating through quark-gluon plasma via Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET). We show that the probability for picking up transverse momentum k_\perp is given by the Fourier transform of the expectation value of two transversely separated light-like path-ordered Wilson lines. The subtleties about the ordering of operators do not change the \hat q value for the strongly coupled plasma of N=4 SYM theory.

6 pages, 2 figures - Talk presented by F. D'Eramo at Jets in Proton-Proton and Heavy-Ion Collisions, August 12-14, 2010, Prague, Czech Republic