Heavy quarkonia in a medium as a quantum dissipative system: master-equation approach

Borghini N, Gombeaud C. Heavy quarkonia in a medium as a quantum dissipative system: master-equation approach. European Physical Journal C. 2012;72(5): 2000.The problem of the evolution of a heavy quarkonium in a medium can be recast as that of a quantum dissipative system. Within the framework of the master-equation approach to open quantum systems, we consider the real-time dynamics of quarkonia. We find that in a plasma at fixed temperature, the populations of the various quarkonium states evolve together, while their momentum distribution satisfies a Fokker-Planck equation