Elliptic Flow of Rare High-Momentum Probes in Nuclear Collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how jet conversions in high energy nuclear collisions affect the azimuthal asymmetry of rare high-momentum particles, predicting a lower v2 for kaons compared to pions and protons at high transverse momentum.

Contribution

It revisits jet conversion mechanisms and predicts distinct v2 behavior for strange hadrons, offering a way to probe the quark-gluon plasma properties.

Findings

v2 of kaons is significantly lower than that of pions and protons at high pT

Experimental v2 data can constrain quark and gluon mean free paths

Jet conversions influence the azimuthal asymmetry of rare probes

Abstract

In high energy nuclear collisions the leading parton of a jet can change flavor through interactions with the surrounding medium. This can considerably boost the relative yield of rare high momentum particles, like strange quarks and photons. We revisit these jet conversions and discuss implications for the azimuthal asymmetry $v_2$ of rare probes. We predict that the $v_2$ of kaons at RHIC falls significantly below that of pions and protons at high transverse momentum. Experimental information on the relative $v_2$ of strange hadrons could provide constraints on the mean free path of fast quarks and gluons in a quark gluon plasma.