Thermal equilibration in an expanding parton plasma Original Research Article

Abstract Thermalization in an expanding parton plasma is studied within the framework of the Boltzmann equation in the absence of any mean fields. In particular, we study the time dependence of the relaxation time to the lowest order in finite temperature QCD and how such time dependence affects the thermalization of an expanding parton plasma. Because of Debye screening and Landau damping at finite temperature, the relaxation time (or transport rates) is free of infrared divergencies in both longitudinal and transverse interactions. The resultant relaxation time decreases with time in an expanding plasma like 1τβ, with β < 1. We prove in this case that thermal equilibrium will eventually be established given a long life-time of the system. However, a fixed momentum cut-off in the calculation of the relaxation time gives rise to a much stronger time dependence which will slow down thermal equilibrium. It is also demonstrated that the “memory effect” of the initial condition affects the approach thermal equilibrium and the final entropy production.