Perturbative probes of QCD matter at the Large Hadron Collider

TL;DR

This paper reviews early LHC heavy-ion collision results, comparing Pb-Pb and p-p data to explore the properties of hot, dense QCD matter using electroweak probes, jets, and quarkonia.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of initial experimental findings on QCD matter properties from LHC heavy-ion runs, highlighting the role of various probes.

Findings

Electroweak probes indicate modifications in hot QCD matter.

Jet quenching observed at high energies.

Suppression patterns of quarkonia suggest deconfinement.

Abstract

The main results on electroweak probes, jets, high-pT hadrons, heavy-flavour and quarkonia production from the first two years of heavy-ion operation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are briefly reviewed. Data measured at center-of-mass energies sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions are compared to proton-proton (p-p) measurements in order to extract information on the properties of hot and dense strongly-interacting matter.