A study on the anomaly of $p$ over $\pi$ ratios in $Au+Au$ collisions with jet quenching

TL;DR

This paper investigates the anomalous proton-to-pion ratios at high transverse momentum in gold-gold collisions at RHIC, using jet quenching models to explain experimental observations and explore different energy loss scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of $p/\pi$ ratios in $Au+Au$ collisions considering different jet quenching scenarios and compares theoretical predictions with experimental data.

Findings

Gluon energy loss greater than quark energy loss explains smaller $p/\pi$ ratios.

Equal energy loss scenarios enhance $p/\pi$ ratios at high $p_T$.

The ${\bar p}/p$ ratio fits data better in the strong jet conversion scenario.

Abstract

The ratios of $p/\pi$ at large transverse momentum in central $Au+Au$ collisions at RHIC are studied in the framework of jet quenching based on a next-to-leading order pQCD parton model. It is shown that theoretical calculations with a gluon energy loss larger than the quark energy loss will naturally lead to a smaller $p/\pi$ ratios at large transverse momentum in $Au+Au$ collisions than those in $p+p$ collisions at the same energy. Scenarios with equal energy losses for gluons and quarks and a strong jet conversion are both explored and it is demonstrated in both scenarios $p/\pi$ ratios at high $p_T$ in central $Au+Au$ collisions are enhanced and the calculated ratios of protons over pions approach to the experimental measurements. However, ${\bar p}/p$ in the latter scenario is found to fit data better than that in the former scenario.