Dissociation of a heavy quarkonium in quark-gluon plasma

In this work we calculate the dissociation of heavy mesons such as the upsilon due to absorption of a thermal gluon in a quark-gluon plasma. We also calculate the dissociation of heavy mesons due to the effect of color charge screening. The lifetime of quarkonium 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 Schrödinger equation for the relative motion of the quarks in this potential, and use the bound-state wavefunction as the initial state for the dissociation of the meson. The meson lifetime is thus determined as a function of v and T, and conclusions are drawn concerning the possibility of detection of the meson in a high-energy heavy-nucleus collision.