Leading-particle suppression in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions

• Published in: The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 461 - 474
• Main Authors: Dainese, A, Loizides, C, Paic, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer Nature B.V 01-01-2005
• Subjects: Atomic collisions; Computer simulation; Energy dissipation; Heavy ions; Ionic collisions; Nucleons; Parameter modification; Partons; Quenching
• ISSN: 1434-6044; 1434-6052
• DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s2004-02077-x

Parton energy loss effects in heavy-ion collisions are studied with the Monte Carlo program PQM (Parton Quenching Model) constructed using the BDMPS quenching weights and a realistic collision geometry. The merit of the approach is that it contains only one free parameter that is tuned to the high-pt nuclear modification factor measured in central Au-Au collisions at \(\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 200\) GeV. Once tuned, the model is consistently applied to all the high-pt observables at 200 GeV: the centrality evolution of the nuclear modification factor, the suppression of the away-side jet-like correlations, and the azimuthal anisotropies for these observables. Predictions for the leading-particle suppression at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 62.4 and 5500 GeV are presented. The limits of the eikonal approximation in the BDMPS approach, when applied to finite-energy partons, are discussed.