Jet Quenching in Heavy-Ion Collisions - The Transition Era from RHIC to LHC

TL;DR

This paper reviews the progress in jet quenching research in heavy-ion collisions, comparing theoretical predictions with experimental results from RHIC and LHC over the past decade, focusing on key observables like R_{AA} and v_2.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive status update on jet quenching physics, highlighting recent experimental findings and discussing initial conditions and theoretical expectations.

Findings

Experimental data show significant jet quenching effects at LHC.

Elliptic flow v_2 of high-p_T particles aligns with theoretical models.

Discrepancies remain in understanding initial conditions.

Abstract

A status report on the jet quenching physics in heavy-ion collisions is given as it appears after more than 10 years of collecting and analysing data at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and ~1.5 years of physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The (theoretical) predictions and expectations before the start of the LHC program are contrasted with the most recent experimental results, focussing on the nuclear modification factor R_{AA}, the elliptic flow v_2 of high-p_T particles, and on the problem of initial conditions.