Effect of running coupling on photons from jet - plasma interaction in relativistic heavy ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the running of the strong coupling constant affects photon production in jet-plasma interactions during relativistic heavy ion collisions, improving the understanding of photon yields and quenching.

Contribution

It introduces a dynamic treatment of the strong coupling constant in calculating photon yields, showing significant modifications to quenching factors and better agreement with experimental data.

Findings

Running coupling significantly alters photon yield calculations.

Model reproduces PHENIX data when all sources are included.

Predictions made for LHC energies.

Abstract

We discuss the role of collisional energy loss on high $p_T$ photon data measured by PHENIX collaboration by calculating photon yield in jet-plasma interaction. The phase space distribution of the participating jet is dynamically evolved by solving Fokker-Planck equation. We treat the strong coupling constant ($\alpha_s$) as function of momentum and temperature while calculating the drag and diffusion coefficients. It is observed that the quenching factor is substantially modified as compared to the case when $\alpha_s$ is taken as constant. It is shown that the data is reasonably well reproduced when contributions from all the relevant sources are taken into account. Predictions at higher beam energies relevant for LHC experiment have been made.