Real and imaginary-time quarkonium correlators in a hot plasma
The possibility of describing the behavior of a $Q\overline{Q}$ pair in a hot plasma in terms of an effective potential is investigated. It is shown that as long as medium effects can be embodied in a gaussian action, like in the QED case, the $Q\overline{Q}$ propagator obeys a closed temporal evolution equation whose large-time behavior is governed by an effective potential. The latter, beside screening, displays also an imaginary part related to collisions.
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