High-P_T Physics with Identified Particles

TL;DR

This paper discusses how measurements of identified particles at high transverse momentum in heavy ion collisions can provide new insights into the quark-gluon plasma, especially through flavor conversions and their effects on particle ratios and flow.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of flavor conversions of jets in the medium as a novel way to probe the properties of the quark-gluon plasma.

Findings

Strangeness is predicted to be enhanced at high P_T at RHIC energies.

Elliptic flow of strange particles is expected to be suppressed.

Flavor conversions can constrain the medium's mean free path.

Abstract

The suppression of high-P_T particles in heavy ion collisions was one of the key discoveries at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. This is usually parameterized by the average rate of momentum-transfer squared to this particle, qhat. Here we argue that measurements of identified particles at high P_T can lead to complementary information about the medium. The leading particle of a jet can change its identity through interactions with the medium. Tracing such flavor conversions could allow us to constrain the mean free path. Here we review the basic concepts of flavor conversions and discuss applications to particle ratios and elliptic flow. We make a prediction that strangeness is enhanced at high P_T at RHIC energies while its elliptic flow is suppressed.