The form of the elastic energy loss probability distribution in a static medium

TL;DR

This paper investigates the probability distribution of elastic energy loss for a hard parton in a static medium, revealing non-Gaussian behavior that questions the common diffusion approximation used in modeling such processes.

Contribution

It provides detailed Monte Carlo simulations showing the non-Gaussian form of energy loss distributions, challenging the diffusion approximation in elastic energy loss models.

Findings

Distributions are non-Gaussian

Diffusion approximation may be invalid

Monte Carlo confirms previous results

Abstract

We examine the probability distributions P(E,t) of the energy of a hard parton traveling in a partonic medium of constant density for a time t while undergoing elastic 2-to-2 pQCD interactions using a Monte-Carlo model. The form of these distributions is found to be non-Gaussian, confirming results by other groups with similarly detailed models and challenging the validity of the widely used diffusion approximation in elastic energy loss modeling.