Equation of state dependence of Mach cone like structures in Au+Au collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the equation of state affects Mach cone structures generated by jet quenching in quark-gluon plasma, using hydrodynamic simulations to analyze angular distributions of particles.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation approach to study Mach cone formation in QGP and explores the dependence of Mach angles on the medium's speed of sound.

Findings

Mach angles vary with the equation of state.

Simulated conical flow resembles experimental observations.

Dependence on speed of sound differs from static medium predictions.

Abstract

In jet quenching, a hard QCD parton, before fragmenting into a jet of hadrons, deposits a fraction of its energy in the medium. As the parton moves nearly with speed of light, much greater that the speed of sound of the medium, quenching jet can generate Mach shock wave. We have examined the possibility of Mach shock wave formation due to jet quenching. Assuming that the deposited energy quickly thermalize, we simulate the hydrodynamic evolution of the QGP fluid with a quenching jet and subsequent particle production. Angular distribution of pions, averaged over all the jet trajectories, resembles 'conical flow' due to Mach shock wave formation. However, speed of sound dependence of the simulated Mach angles are at variance with that due to shock wave formation in a static medium or in a medium with finite velocity.