Linear Response and Plasmon Decay in Hot Gluonic Matter

The current controversy over the damping of color oscillations in a quark-gluon plasma is resolved through a gauge-invariant linear-response analysis of relevant physical processes. The plasmon decay rate is shown to be $\gamma =-\frac{11N_c{g}^{2}T}{24\pi }$ to lowest perturbative order, but this result does not survive at higher orders. A self-consistent estimate suggests that plasmon decay is in fact a nonperturbative phenomenon governed by static screening effects.