Dynamical Effects on Jet Energy Loss in a QCD Medium

TL;DR

This paper develops a theory to calculate the radiative energy loss of heavy quarks in a finite, dynamical QCD medium, revealing larger energy loss compared to static models, which is crucial for accurate jet quenching predictions in heavy ion collisions.

Contribution

It introduces a first-order calculation method for heavy quark energy loss in a dynamical QCD medium, emphasizing the importance of medium dynamics for accurate jet suppression modeling.

Findings

Dynamical medium causes significantly larger energy loss than static models.

Quantitative predictions for jet suppression require accounting for medium dynamics.

Qualitative predictions of the formalism are also provided.

Abstract

Computation of radiative energy loss in a finite size dynamically screened QCD medium is a key ingredient for obtaining reliable predictions for jet quenching in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. We develop a theory which allows calculating, to first order in the number of scattering centers, the energy loss of a heavy quark traveling through a finite size dynamical QCD medium. We show that the result for a dynamical medium is significantly larger compared to a medium consisting of randomly distributed static scattering centers. Therefore, a quantitative description of jet suppression at RHIC and LHC experiments must correctly account for the dynamics of the medium's constituents. Furthermore, qualitative predictions that come from this energy loss formalism are also presented.