Variation of jet quenching from RHIC to LHC and thermal suppression of the QCD coupling constant

We perform a joint jet tomographic analysis of the data on the nuclear modification factor R _AA from PHENIX at RHIC and ALICE at LHC. The computations are performed accounting for radiative and collisional parton energy loss with running coupling constant. Our results show that the observed slow variation of R _AA from RHIC to LHC indicates that the QCD coupling constant is suppressed in the quark-gluon plasma produced at LHC.     

Parton energy loss in glasma

We study the synchrotron-like gluon emission in AA-collisions from fast partons due to interaction with the coherent glasma color fields. Our results show that for RHIC and LHC conditions the contribution of this mechanism to parton energy loss is much smaller than the radiative energy loss in the plasma phase.     

Distinguishing ‘Higgs’ spin hypotheses using γγ and WW ∗ decays

A multi-step setup for heavy-flavor studies in high-energy nucleus-nucleus (AA) collisions—addressing within a comprehensive framework the initial $Q\overline{Q}$ production, the propagation in the hot medium until decoupling and the final hadronization and decays—is presented. The initial hard production of $Q\overline{Q}$ pairs is simulated using the POWHEG pQCD event generator, interfaced with the PYTHIA parton shower. Outcomes of the calculations are compared to experimental data in pp collisions and are used as a validated benchmark for the study of medium effects. In the AA case, the propagation of the heavy quarks in the medium is described in a framework provided by the relativistic Langevin equation. For the latter, different choices of transport coefficients are explored (either provided by a perturbative calculation or extracted from lattice-QCD simulations) and the corresponding numerical results are compared to experimental data from RHIC and the LHC. In particular, outcomes for the nuclear modification factor R _AA and for the elliptic flow v ₂ of D/B mesons, heavy-flavor electrons and non-prompt J/ψ’s are displayed.     

Corona effect in <Emphasis Type="Italic">AA</Emphasis> collisions at the LHC

Following our earlier finding based on RHIC data on the dominant jet production from nucleus corona region, we reconsider this effect in nucleus–nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. Our hypothesis was based on experimental data, which raised the idea of a finite formation time for the produced medium. At the RHIC energy and in low-density corona region, this time reaches about 2 fm/c. Following this hypothesis, the nuclear modification factor R _AA at high p _t should be independent on particle momentum, and the azimuthal anisotropy of high p _t particles, v ₂, should be finite. A separate prediction held that, at the LHC energy, the formation time in the corona region should be about 1 fm/c. New LHC data show that R _AA is not flat and is rising with p _t . We add to our original hypothesis an assumption that a fast parton traversing the produced medium loses the fixed portion of its energy. A shift of about 7 GeV from the original power law p ^?6 production cross section in pp explains well all the observed R _AA dependencies. The shift of about 7 GeV is also valid at the RHIC energy. We also show that the observed at the LHC dependence of v ₂ at high p _t and our previous predictions agree.     

An interpretation of saturation phenomena as Glauber-Gribov multiple parton scatterings

We compare two formalism that describe minijet production in pA and AA: pQCD supplemented by Glauber-Gribov multiple semi-hard parton scatterings (pQCD + Glauber), and the Color Glass Condensate (CGC). We argue that in a suitable limit they are equivalent to each other, the PQCD + Glauber model being more accurate from a numerical point of view. Finally, we analyze RHIC data on Au?Au integrated charged multiplicities in the pQCD + Glauber framework, and conclude that at least at central rapidity there is no sign of gluon saturation.     

The study of gluon energy loss in cold nuclear matter from J/ψ production

The energy loss effects of the incident quark, gluon, and the color octet ccˉ on J/ψ suppression in p-A collisions are studied by means of the experimental data at E866, RHIC, and LHC energy. We extracted the transport coefficient for gluon energy loss from the E866 experimental data in the middle x F region(0.20 x F 0.65) based on the Salgado-Wiedemann(SW) quenching weights and the recent EPPS16 nuclear parton distribution functions together with nCTEQ15. It was determined that the difference between the values of the transport coefficient for light quark, gluon, and heavy quark in cold nuclear matter is very small. The theoretical results modified by the parton energy loss effects are consistent with the experimental data for E866 and RHIC energy, and the gluon energy loss plays a remarkable role on J/ψ suppression in a broad variable range. Because the corrections of the nuclear parton distribution functions in the J/ψ channel are significant at LHC energy level, the nuclear modification due to the parton energy loss is minimal. It is worth noting that we use the color evaporation model(CEM) at leading order to compute the p-p baseline, and the conclusion in this paper is CEM model dependent.     

Kaon and pion ratio probes of jet quenching in nuclear collisions

Non-Abelian energy loss in quark gluon plasmas is shown to lead to novel hadron ratio suppression patterns in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. Here we investigate pion and kaon production in pp and AA collisions in a perturbative QCD frame, suppression pattern and hadron ratios. The K^?/K⁺ and K⁺/π⁺ ratios are found to be most sensitive to the opacity (density) of the plasma. Experimental data indicate that the fragmentation dominated pQCD region will be reached only at higher p _T; in an intermediate p _Tregion other particle production mechanisms dominate the K/π ratios.     

Parton energy loss in an expanding quark-gluon plasma: Radiative vs. collisional

The radiative and collisional parton energy losses in an expanding quark-gluon plasma are compared. The radiative energy loss is calculated within the light-cone path integral approach [4]. The collisional energy loss is calculated using the Bjorken method with an accurate treatment of the binary collision kinematics. Our numerical results demonstrate that, for RHIC and LHC conditions, the collisional energy loss is relatively small in comparison with the radiative. An enhancement of the heavy quark radiative energy loss is found as compared to that of light quarks at high energies. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Perturbative QCD results on pion production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">pp,pA</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">AA</Emphasis> collisions

We summarize new pQCD results on pion production in proton–proton (pp), proton–nucleus (pA) and nucleus–nucleus (AA) collisions. Our calculation introduces intrinsic parton transverse momentum (k_T) and is performed effectively at next-to-leading order (NLO), applying a K factor extracted for jet events. Two different factorization scales, Q = p_Tjet/2 and p_Tjet are used. Experimental data in pA collisions imply a preference for the latter choice at NLO level. We display our results at CERN SPS for AA collisions.     

Jet quenching with running coupling including radiative and collisional energy losses

We calculate the nuclear modification factor for RHIC and LHC conditions accounting for the radiative and collisional parton energy loss with the running coupling constant. We find that the RHIC data can be explained both in the scenario with the chemically equilibrium quark-gluon plasma and purely gluonic plasma with slightly different thermal suppression of the coupling constant. The role of the parton energy gain due to gluon absorption is also investigated. Our results show that the energy gain gives negligible effect. The article is published in the original.     

From leading hadron suppression to jet quenching at RHIC and at the LHC

In nucleus-nucleus collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), one generically observes a strong medium-induced suppression of high- p_T hadron production. This suppression is accounted for in models which assume a significant medium-induced radiative energy loss of high- p_T parent partons produced in the collision. How can we further test the microscopic dynamics conjectured to underlie this abundant high- p_T phenomenon? What can we learn about the dynamics of parton fragmentation, and what can we learn about the properties of the medium which modifies it? Given that inelastic parton scattering is expected to be the dominant source of partonic equilibration processes, can we use hard processes as an experimentally well-controlled window into QCD non-equilibrium dynamics? Here I review what has been achieved so far, and which novel opportunities open up with higher luminosity at RHIC, and with the wider kinematical range accessible soon at the LHC.Received: 15 February 2005, Published online: 3 June 2005PACS: 12.38.Mh, 24.85. + p     

A simplified model for calculating RAA and RCP of cold nuclear matter effects

An incoherent binary nucleon-nucleon collision model of AA collisions is presented for simulating particle production in cold nuclear matter. With a simple phenomenological parameter, the mean nucleon energy loss fraction, this model yields pseudorapidity density distributions that are comparable to those of experiment, as well as those of HIJING. Particle production data for a given binary collision is extracted from the PYTHIA event generator. The nuclear geometry is described by the Glauber model. The preliminary R _AA and R _CP results are also presented and discussed, with a proposal that R _AA be redefined.     

Cold nuclear modifications at RHIC and LHC

We use recent nuclear parton distributions, among them the Hirai — Kumano — Nagai (HKN) and Eskola — Paukkunen — Salgado (EPS08) parameterizations, in our pQCD-improved parton model to calculate the nuclear modification factor, R _AA′ (p _T ), at RHIC and at the LHC. At RHIC, the deuteron-gold nuclear modification factor for pions, measured at p _T ≥ 10 GeV/c in central collisions, appears to deviate more from unity than the model results. The slopes of the calculated R _dAu (p _T ) are similar to the slopes of the PHENIX pion and photon data. At LHC, without final-state effects we see a small enhancement of R _dPb (p _T ) in the transverse momentum range 10 GeV/c ≥ p _T ≥ 100 GeV/c for most parameterizations. The inclusion of final-state energy loss will reduce the R _dPb (p _T ) values.     

On the nuclear modification factor at RHIC and LHC

We show that pQCD factorization incorporated with pre-hadronization energy-loss effect naturally leads to flatness of the nuclear modification factor RAA$R_{\mathit{AA}}$ for produced hadrons at high transverse momentum pT$p_T$. We consider two possible scenarios for the pre-hadronization: In scenario 1, the produced gluon propagates through dense QCD medium and loses energy. In scenario 2, all gluons first decay to quark–antiquark pairs and then each pair loses energy as propagating through the medium. We show that the estimates of the energy-loss in these two different models lead to very close values and is able to explain the suppression of high-pT$p_T$ hadrons in nucleus–nucleus collisions at RHIC. We show that the onset of the flatness of RAA$R_{\mathit{AA}}$ for the produced hadron in central collisions at midrapidity is about pT≈15$p_T\approx 15$ and 25 GeV at RHIC and the LHC energies, respectively. We show that the smallness (RAA<0.5$R_{\mathit{AA}}<0.5$ ) and the high-pT$p_T$ flatness of RAA$R_{\mathit{AA}}$ obtained from the kT$k_T$ factorization supplemented with the Balitsky–Kovchegov (BK) equation is rather generic and it does not strongly depend on the details of the BK solutions. We show that energy-loss effect reduces the nuclear modification factor obtained from the kT$k_T$ factorization about 30–50% at moderate pT$p_T$.     

Coherent final state interaction in jet production in nucleus-nucleus collisions

The coherent final state interaction of an energetic parton produced in AA collisions is studied. This interaction is due to the change in the cutoff scale and in the running coupling constant when the parton passes from a vacuum to a quark-gluon plasma. It is demonstrated that the contribution of this new mechanism to the energy loss may be of the same order of magnitude as the induced gluon radiation. However, an accurate evaluation of this medium effect is a difficult task, because there is a strong cancellation between the cutoff and running coupling constant effects. The uncertainties in the contribution of the coherent final state interaction restrict strongly the accuracy of jet tomographic analyses of the matter density produced in AA reactions.     

v<Subscript>2</Subscript> and R<Subscript>AA</Subscript> of non-photonic single electrons: which restriction do the current measurements pose on the production of charm,beauty?

In relativistic heavy ion collisions, heavy flavor is expected to result predominately from initial hard parton–parton scatterings. Hence, in the absence of later stage effects, the production of heavy flavor in A+A collisions can be viewed as a superposition of N+N collisions. Measurements of v₂ or R_AA of heavy flavor (or their decay electrons) in A+A collisions violate the simple superposition picture and therefore present themselves as probes of the medium formed in such collisions. On the basis of the measured v₂ and R_AA of non-photonic single electrons in A+A collisions at RHIC, we will investigate the interplay between these observables as well as the restrictions they pose for charm and bottom production.     

Jet color chemistry and anomalous baryon production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">AA</Emphasis>-collisions

We study anomalous high-p _T baryon production in AA-collisions due to formation of the two parton collinear gq system in the anti-sextet color state for quark jets and gg system in the decuplet/anti-decuplet color states for gluon jets. Fragmentation of these states, which are absent for NN-collisions, after escaping from the quark–gluon plasma leads to baryon production. Our qualitative estimates show that this mechanism can be potentially important at RHIC and LHC energies.     

Study of photon-tagged jet events in high-energy heavy ion collisions with CMS

The energy loss of fast partons traversing the strongly interacting matter produced in high energy nuclear collisions is one of the most interesting observables to probe the nature of the produced medium. The collisional and radiative energy loss of the partons will modify the fragmentation functions depending on the path length in the medium. Pb + Pb collisions at  GeV at the LHC will allow detailed measurements of the in-medium modifications of fragmentation functions of parton initiated jets, using the γ-jet channel. Since the photon does not strongly interact with the medium, the initial transverse energy of the fragmenting parton can be related to the photon transverse energy. This in turn allows for precision studies of the fragmentation function underlying these jets.