Heavy-ion collisions - hot QCD in a lab

High-energy heavy-ion collisions provide a unique opportunity to study the properties of the hot and dense strongly-interacting system composed of deconfined quarks and gluons -- the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) -- in laboratory conditions. The formation of a QGP is predicted by lattice QCD calculations as a crossover transition from hadronic matter (at zero baryochemical potential) and is expected to take place once the system temperature reaches values above 155 MeV and/or the energy density above $0.5~\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{fm}^{3}$. The nature of such a strongly coupled QGP has been linked to the early Universe at some microseconds after the Big Bang. To characterize the physical properties of the short-lived matter (lifetime of about $10~\mathrm{fm}/c$) experimental studies at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider and the Large Hadron collider use auto-generated probes, such as high-energy partons created early in the hadronic collisions, thermally emitted photons, and a set of particle correlations that are sensitive to the collective expansion and the dynamics of the system. The lectures briefly introduced some of the experimental techniques and provided a glimpse at some of the results.Comment: Proceedings of the XIV International Workshop on Hadron Physics, Florianopolis, Brazil, March 201

Two- and three-particle azimuthal correlations of high-pt charged hadrons in Pb-Au collisions at 158A GeV/c

Azimuthal correlations of hadrons with high transverse momenta serve as a measure to study the energy loss and the fragmentation pattern of jets emerging from hard parton-parton interactions in heavy ion collisions. Preliminary results from the CERES experiment on two- and three-particle correlations in central Pb-Au collisions are presented. A strongly non-Gaussian shape on the away-side of the two-particle correlation function is observed, indicating significant interactions of the emerging partons with the medium. Mechanisms like deflection of the initial partons or the evolution of a mach cone in the medium can lead to similar modifications of the jet structure on the away-side. An analysis based on three-particle correlations is presented which helps to shed light on the origin of the observed away-side pattern.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the Quark Matter conference 200

Two-particle azimuthal correlations at high transverse momentum in Pb - Au at 158 AGeV/c

The study of two-particle azimuthal correlations at high transverse momentum has become an important tool to investigate the interaction of hard partons with the medium formed in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. At SPS energies, pioneering studies by the CERES collaboration indicated a significant modification of the away-side structure in central collisions. Here we present new results emerging from the analysis of the year 2000 data set recorded with the CERES Time-Projection Chamber, which provides excellent tracking efficiency and significantly improved momentum determination

Novel subjet observables for jet quenching in heavy-ion collisions

Using a novel observable that relies on the momentum difference of the two most energetic subjets within a jet $\Delta S_{12}$ we study the internal structure of high-energy jets simulated by several Monte Carlo event generators that implement the partonic energy-loss in a dense partonic medium. Based on inclusive jet and di-jet production we demonstrate that $\Delta S_{12}$ is an effective tool to discriminate between different models of jet modifications over a broad kinematic range. The new quantity, while preserving the colinear and infrared safety of modern jet algorithms, it is experimentally attractive because of its inherent resiliance against backgrounds of heavy-ion collisions.Comment: v1: 10 pages. v2: Includes (i) additional discussion about best discriminant by calculating the RSD (ii) new section about hadronization effects on the reconstructed subjets; version to be published in European Physical Journal

Two particle azimuthal correlations at high transverse momentum in Pb - Au at 158 AGeV/c

The analysis of two-particle azimuthal angular correlations at high transverse momentum from Pb+Au collisions at 158 AGeV/c at SPS reveals substantial modifications of the away-side peak as compared to the distributions from p+p reactions. The data recorded with the CERES Time-Projection Chamber, which provides excellent tracking efficiency, suggest that the observed modification of the back-to-back structure implies significant re-interactions of the scattered partons within the medium. These findings at top SPS energy show features qualitatively similar to the results obtained at RHIC from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV/c and Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 62$ GeV/c. We present the centrality and charge dependent conditional di-jet yields for similar transverse momentum windows as investigated by the RHIC experimentsThe analysis of two-particle azimuthal angular correlations at high transverse momentum from Pb+Au collisions at 158 AGeV/c at SPS reveals substantial modifications of the away-side peak as compared to the distributions from p+p reactions. The data recorded with the CERES Time-Projection Chamber, which provides excellent tracking efficiency, suggest that the observed modification of the back-to-back structure implies significant re-interactions of the scattered partons within the medium. These findings at top SPS energy show features qualitatively similar to the results obtained at RHIC from Au+Au collisions at s = 200  GeV / c and Cu+Cu collisions at s = 62  GeV / c [S.S. Adler et al., PHENIX Collaboration, arXiv:nucl-ex/0507004 , M. McCumber and J. Frantz, arXiv:nucl-ex/0511048 ]. We present the centrality and charge dependent conditional di-jet yields for similar transverse momentum windows as investigated by the RHIC experiments [S.S. Adler et al., PHENIX Collaboration, arXiv:nucl-ex/0507004 , M. McCumber and J. Frantz, arXiv:nucl-ex/0511048 , J. Adams et al., STAR Collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 152301, arXiv:nucl-ex/0501016 ]

Identifying groomed jet splittings in heavy-ion collisions

Measurements of jet substructure in heavy-ion collisions may provide key insight to the nature of jet quenching in the quark-gluon plasma. Jet grooming techniques from high-energy physics have been applied to heavy-ion collisions in order to isolate theoretically controlled jet observables and explore possible modification to the hard substructure of jets. However, the grooming algorithms used have not been tailored to the unique considerations of heavy-ion collisions, in particular to the experimental challenge of reconstructing jets in the presence of a large underlying event. We report a set of simple studies illustrating the impact of the underlying event on identifying groomed jet splittings in heavy-ion collisions, and on associated groomed jet observables. We illustrate the importance of the selection of grooming algorithm, as certain groomers are more robust to these effects, while others, including those commonly used in heavy-ion collisions, are susceptible to large background effects -- which, when uncontrolled, can mimic a jet quenching signal. These experimental considerations, along with appropriate theoretical motivation, provide input to the choice of grooming algorithms employed in heavy-ion collisions.Comment: Final version after journal revie

Jets in 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions from the STAR experiment at RHIC

Full jet reconstruction in heavy-ion collisions is a promising tool for the quantitative study of properties of the dense medium produced at RHIC. Measurements of d+Au collisions are important to disentangle initial state nuclear effects from medium-induced kT broadening and jet quenching. Study of jet production and properties in d+Au in combination with similar studies in p+p is an important baseline measurement needed to better understand heavy-ion results. We present mid-rapidity inclusive jet pT spectra and di-jet correlations (kT) in 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions from the 2007-2008 RHIC run. We discuss the methods used to correct the data for detector effects and for background in d+Au collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Hot Quarks 2010 conference proceeding

Jet Observables of Parton Energy Loss in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions

While strong attenuation of single particle production and particle correlations has provided convincing evidence for large parton energy loss in the QGP, its application to jet tomography has inherent limitations due to the inclusive nature of the measurements. Generalization of this suppression to full jet observables leads to an unbiased, more differential and thus powerful approach to determining the characteristics of the hot QCD medium created in high-energy nuclear collisions. In this article we report on recent theoretical progress in calculating jet shapes and the related jet cross sections in the presence of QGP-induced parton energy loss. (i) A theoretical model of intra-jet energy flow in heavy-ion collisions is discussed. (ii) Realistic numerical simulations demonstrate the nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}(p_T)$ evolves continuously with the jet cone size $R^{\max}$ or the acceptance cut $\omega_{\min}$ - a novel feature of jet quenching. The anticipated broadening of jets is subtle and most readily manifested in the periphery of the cone for smaller cone radii.Comment: Proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, updated version with minor correction