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  • Open Access

Universal Equilibration Condition for Heavy Quarks

Krishna Rajagopal1,*, Bruno Scheihing-Hitschfeld2,†, and Urs Achim Wiedemann3,‡

  • *Contact author: krishna@mit.edu
  • †Contact author: bscheihi@kitp.ucsb.edu
  • ‡Contact author: urs.wiedemann@cern.ch
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 242301 – Published 8 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m2d2-9sdb

Abstract

Kinetic equilibration at late times is physically required for heavy particles in a finite temperature medium. In Fokker-Planck dynamics, it is ensured by the Einstein relation between the drag and longitudinal momentum diffusion coefficients. However, in certain gauge field theories, this relation is violated at any nonzero heavy quark velocity. Recent work in strongly coupled N=4 SYM gauge theory shows that the Kolmogorov equation for the heavy quark phase space distribution (that reduces to Fokker-Planck form upon truncating the momentum transfer probability distribution to second moments) does equilibrate even though the Fokker-Planck equation does not. Going beyond these (to date theory-specific) insights, we derive a universal equilibration condition for the kernel of the Kolmogorov equation and, consequently, for the momentum transfer probability distribution that holds in any quantum field theory with any coupling strength. This condition, which is the generalization of the Einstein relation to quantum field theories which feature non-Gaussian fluctuations, reveals that the asymmetry between energy loss and energy gain in the momentum transfer probability distribution takes a simple, theory-independent, form.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 242301– Published 8 December, 2025
  • Received 12 June 2025
  • Revised 6 October 2025
  • Accepted 10 November 2025
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