Korinna Christine Zapp

A perturbative framework for jet quenching

A bstractWe present a conceptually new framework for describing jet evolution in the dense medium produced in ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions using perturbative QCD and its implementation into the Monte Carlo event generator Jewel. The rescattering of hard partons in the medium is modelled by infrared continued pQCD matrix elements supplemented with parton showers. The latter approximate higher order real-emission matrix elements and thus generate medium-induced gluon emissions. The interplay between different emissions is governed by their formation times. The destructive interference between subsequent scattering processes, the non-Abelian version of the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect, is also taken into account. In this way the complete radiation pattern is consistently treated in a uniform way. Results obtained within this minimal and theoretically well constrained framework are compared with a variety of experimental data susceptible to jet-quenching effects at both RHIC and the LHC. Overall, a good agreement between data and simulation is found. This new framework also allows to identify and quantify the dominant uncertainties in the simulation, and we show some relevant examples for this.

Geometrical aspects of jet quenching in JEWEL

Abstract In this publication the performance of the Monte Carlo event generator Jewel in non-central heavy-ion collisions is investigated. Jewel is a consistent perturbative framework for jet evolution in the presence of a dense medium. It yields a satisfactory description of a variety of jet observables in central collisions at the LHC, although so far with a simplistic model of the medium. Here, it is demonstrated that also jet measurements in non-central collisions, and in particular the dependence of the jet suppression on the angle relative to the reaction plane, are reproduced by the same model.

A local Monte Carlo framework for coherent QCD parton energy loss

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are the standard tool for describing jet-like multi-particle final states. To apply them to the simulation of medium-modified jets in heavy ion collisions, a probabilistic implementation of medium-induced quantum interference effects is needed. Here, we analyze in detail how the quantum interference effects included in the Baier-Dokshitzer-Mueller-Peigné-Schiff–Zakharov (BDMPS-Z) formalism of medium-induced gluon radiation can be implemented in a quantitatively controlled, local probabilistic parton cascade. The resulting MC algorithm is formulated in terms of elastic and inelastic mean free paths, and it is by construction insensitive to the IR and UV divergences of the total elastic and inelastic cross sections that serve as its basic building blocks in the incoherent limit. Interference effects are implemented by reweighting gluon production histories as a function of the number of scattering centers that act within the gluon formation time. Unlike existing implementations based on gluon formation time, we find generic arguments for why a quantitative implementation of quantum interference cannot amount to a mere dead-time requirement for subsequent gluon production. We validate the proposed MC algorithm by comparing MC simulations with parametric dependencies and analytical results of the BDMPS-Z formalism. In particular, we show that the MC algorithm interpolates correctly between analytically known limiting cases for totally coherent and incoherent gluon production, and that it accounts quantitatively for the medium-induced gluon energy distribution ωdI/dω and the resulting average parton energy loss. We also verify that the MC algorithm implements the transverse momentum broadening of the BDMPS-Z formalism. We finally discuss why the proposed MC algorithm provides a suitable starting point for going beyond the approximations of the BDMPS-Z formalism.

Medium response in JEWEL and its impact on jet shape observables in heavy ion collisions : arXiv

A bstractRealistic modeling of medium-jet interactions in heavy ion collisions is becoming increasingly important to successfully predict jet structure and shape observables. In Jewel, all partons belonging to the parton showers initiated by hard scattered partons undergo collisions with thermal partons from the medium, leading to both elastic and radiative energy loss. The recoiling medium partons carry away energy and momentum from the jet. Since the thermal component of these recoils’ momenta is part of the soft background activity, comparison with data requires the implementation of a subtraction procedure. We present two independent procedures through which background subtraction can be performed and discuss the impact of the medium recoil on jet shape observables. Keeping track of the medium response significantly improves the Jewel description of jet shape measurements.

Diffraction and correlations at the LHC: definitions and observables

We note that the definition of diffractive events is a matter of convention. We discuss two possible “definitions”: one based on unitarity and the other on Large Rapidity Gaps (LRG) or Pomeron exchange. LRG can also arise from fluctuations and we quantify this effect and some of the related uncertainties. We find care must be taken in extracting the Pomeron contribution from LRG events. We show that long-range correlations in multiplicities can arise from the same multi-Pomeron diagrams that are responsible for LRG events, and we explain how early LHC data can illuminate our understanding of ‘soft’ interactions.

Sensitivity of jet substructure to jet-induced medium response : arXiv

Abstract Jet quenching in heavy ion collisions is expected to be accompanied by recoil effects, but unambiguous signals for the induced medium response have been difficult to identify so far. Here, we argue that modern jet substructure measurements can improve this situation qualitatively since they are sensitive to the momentum distribution inside the jet. We show that the groomed subjet shared momentum fraction z g , and the girth of leading and subleading subjets signal recoil effects with dependencies that are absent in a recoilless baseline. We find that recoil effects can explain most of the medium modifications to the z g distribution observed in data. Furthermore, for jets passing the Soft Drop Condition, recoil effects induce in the differential distribution of subjet separation Δ R 12 a characteristic increase with Δ R 12 , and they introduce a characteristic enhancement of the girth of the subleading subjet with decreasing z g . We explain why these qualitatively novel features, that we establish in Jewel+Pythia simulations, reflect generic physical properties of recoil effects that should therefore be searched for as telltale signatures of jet-induced medium response.

Simulating V+jet processes in heavy ion collisions with JEWEL

Processes in which a jet recoils against an electroweak boson complement studies of jet quenching in heavy ion collisions at the LHC. As the boson does not interact strongly it escapes the dense medium unmodified and thus provides a more direct access to the hard scattering kinematics than can be obtained in di-jet events. First measurements of jet modification in these processes are now available from the LHC experiments and will improve greatly with better statistics in the future. We present an extension of Jewel to boson–jet processes. Jewel is a dynamical framework for jet evolution in a dense background based on perturbative QCD that is in agreement with a large variety of jet observables. We also obtain a good description of the CMS and ATLAS data for

Monte Carlo tools for jet quenching

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