A Colorful Wake for Gerhard Soff

Abstract

We calculate the wake induced in a hot QCD plasma by a fast parton in the framework of linear response theory. We discuss two scenarios: ($i$) a weakly coupled quark-gluon plasma described by hard-thermal loop perturbation theory and ($ii$) a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma which resembles a quantum liquid. We show that a Mach cone can appear in the second scenario, but not in the first one

Lecture given at the Memorial Symposium for Gerhard Soff (April 25-26, 2005, Frankfurt, Germany)