Turbulent thermalization process in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

We discuss the onset of the thermalization process in high-energy heavy-ion collisions from a weak-coupling perspective, using classical–statistical real-time lattice simulations as a first principles tool to study the pre-equilibrium dynamics. Most remarkably, we find that the thermalization process is governed by a universal attractor, where the space–time evolution of the plasma becomes independent of the initial conditions and exhibits the self-similar dynamics characteristic of wave turbulence [1]. We discuss the consequences of our weak-coupling results for the thermalization process in heavy-ion experiments and briefly comment on the use of weak-coupling techniques at larger values of the coupling.