Chromo-Hydrodynamic Approach to the Unstable Quark-Gluon Plasma

Abstract

We derive hydrodynamic-like equations that are applicable to short-time scale color phenomena in the quark-gluon plasma. The equations are solved in the linear response approximation, and the gluon polarization tensor is derived. As an application, we study the collective modes in a two-stream system and find plasma instabilities when the fluid velocity is larger than the speed of sound in the plasma. The chromo-hydrodynamic approach, discussed here in detail, should be considered as simpler over other approaches and well-designed for numerical studies of the dynamics of an unstable quark-gluon plasma.

Comments: 12 pages, revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev. D