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Title: Event-by-event jet quenching

Journal Article · · Physics Letters, (Section) B
OSTI ID:1000443

High momentum jets and hadrons can be used as probes for the quark gluon plasma (QGP) formed in nuclear collisions at high energies. We investigate the influence of fluctuations in the fireball on jet quenching observables by comparing propagation of light quarks and gluons through averaged, smooth QGP fireballs with event-by-event jet quenching using realistic inhomogeneous fireballs. We find that the transverse momentum and impact parameter dependence of the nuclear modification factor R{sub AA} can be fit well in an event-by-event quenching scenario within experimental errors. However the transport coefficient {cflx q} extracted from fits to the measured nuclear modification factor R{sub AA} in averaged fireballs underestimates the value from event-by-event calculations by up to 50%. On the other hand, after adjusting {cflx q} to fit R{sub AA} in the event-by-event analysis we find residual deviations in the azimuthal asymmetry v{sub 2} and in two-particle correlations, that provide a possible faint signature for a spatial tomography of the fireball. We discuss a correlation function that is a measure for spatial inhomogeneities in a collision and can be constrained from data.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). RIKEN Research Center
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE - Office Of Science
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
1000443
Report Number(s):
BNL-94339-2010-JA; PYLBAJ; R&D Project: PO-3; TRN: US1100119
Journal Information:
Physics Letters, (Section) B, Vol. 693, Issue 2; ISSN 0370-2693
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English