Department of Physics


Department of Physics Apple - Gravity

Phone (701) 231-8974, fax (701) 231-7088


Seminar Abstract

October 30, 2002:

"In Search of the Quark Anti-Quark Potential"

Professor Sidi Benzahra
Department of Physics
North Dakota State University

In this work, we describe the need for a reliable quark anti-quark potential. We also discuss what the quark gluon plasma is. We calculate the dissociation of mesons due to absorption of a thermal gluon in a quark gluon plasma and the dissociation of heavy mesons due to the effect of color charge screening. The lifetime of mesons moving with velocity v through a quark gluon plasma at temperature T is computed. An explicit configuration space potential is found for the screened interaction between the quarks constituting the meson. This potential is non-spherical, but axially symmetric about the direction of v. We solve the Schroedinger equation for the relative motion of the quarks in this potential, and use the bound-state wave function as the initial state for the dissociation of the meson.