Heavy-quark energy loss and thermalization in a strongly coupled supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma

Using the AdS/CFT correspondence, we compute the radiative energy loss of a slowly decelerating heavy quark with mass M moving through a supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma at temperature T and large 't Hooft coupling λ. The calculation is carried out in terms of perturbations in λT/M, and the rate of the energy loss is computed up to second order. We explain the physical meaning of each correction and estimate the thermalization time of a heavy quark moving in a strongly-coupled plasma.