Mach cone shock waves at RHIC

TL;DR

This paper investigates how energy loss by jets in hot nuclear matter at RHIC creates Mach cone shock waves, explaining complex particle correlation patterns observed in heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that collective sound modes excited by jet energy loss can produce Mach cone shock waves, accounting for observed multi-particle correlations.

Findings

Mach cone shock waves explain three and four particle correlations.

Energy loss by jets excites collective sound modes.

Results align with experimental observations at RHIC.

Abstract

Energy and momentum lost by hard jets propagating through hot and dense nuclear matter have to be redistributed in the medium. It has been conjectured that collective sound modes are excited. Those lead to Mach cone nuclear shock waves in the nuclear medium that are shown to account for three and four particle angular correlation structures of hadrons with a (semi-)hard trigger hadron in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC.