String Clustering and J/Psi Suppression in Nuclear Collisions

Abstract

We study the clustering of colour strings in the transverse plane of nucleus-nucleus collisions and argue that deconfinement sets in when the string density within a cluster reaches a critical value. We show that this implies a minimal cluster size at the onset of deconfinement, which in turn results in discontinuous behaviour for J/Psi suppression.

Comments: 9 pages, latex, three figures (included)