Weak-coupling techniques for the thermodynamics of the quark-gluon plasma
Abstract
Description
We describe some of the recent progress in the calculation of thermodynamic quantities in QCD at high temperatures and densities by weak-coupling techniques and extrapolation to realistic coupling strength. We argue that a (mostly) weakly coupled quark-gluon plasma at temperatures only a few times the transition temperature is not yet ruled out by the observed fast apparent thermalization at RHIC, as nonabelian plasma instabilities might provide an efficient mechanism for fast isotropization even in a collisionless plasma.
11 pages, 6 figures. Talk given at the 4th Budapest Winter School on Heavy Ion Physics, 1-3 Dec 2004; v3: more references added
11 pages, 6 figures. Talk given at the 4th Budapest Winter School on Heavy Ion Physics, 1-3 Dec 2004; v3: more references added