Deflected Jets Can Not Explain the Double-Hump Structure in Triggered Correlations in Heavy-Ion Collisions

TL;DR

This paper argues that jet deflection by the medium cannot explain the double-hump structure in heavy-ion collision correlations, challenging a previously proposed explanation.

Contribution

It provides a critical analysis showing that jet deflection models are inconsistent with data and violate fundamental physics principles.

Findings

Jet deflection models cannot reproduce the observed correlation structures.

Deflected jets either conflict with experimental data or violate basic physics.

The hypothesis that jet deflection explains the double-hump structure should be discarded.

Abstract

Jet deflection by a flowing medium is one of the ideas brought forward to explain the splitting of the correlation function of hadrons associated with a high transverse momentum trigger from a jet-like structure observed in p-p and d-Au collisions to a double-hump structure on the away side in Au-Au collisions. However, just considering the parton kinematics needed to explain the data shows that any attempt of detailed modelling deflected jets either cannot agree with the data or leads to internal contradictions and violations of basic physics principles. The idea that the deflection of jets by the medium can explain the experimentally observed structures should therefore be discarded.