Probing the Short-Distance Structure of the Quark-Gluon Plasma with Energy Correlators

Journal Article · 01 January 2024 · Physical Review Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.011901 · OSTI ID:2274838

Yang, Zhong; He, Yayun ; Moult, Ian; Wang, Xin-Nian

Energy-energy correlators (EECs) are promising observables to study the dynamics of jet evolution in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) through its imprint on angular scales in the energy flux of final-state particles. We carry out the first complete calculation of EECs using realistic simulations of high-energy heavy-ion collisions and dissect the different dynamics underlying the final distribution through analyses of jet propagation in a uniform medium. The EECs of $\gamma$ -jets in heavy-ion collisions are found to be enhanced by the medium response from elastic scatterings instead of induced gluon radiation at large angles. In the meantime, EECs are suppressed at small angles due to energy loss and transverse momentum broadening of jet shower partons. These modifications are further shown to be sensitive to the angular scale of the in-medium interaction, as characterized by the Debye screening mass. Experimental verification and measurement of such modifications will shed light on this scale and the short-distance structure of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 2274838
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 132; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Publisher: American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English