Constraining in-medium heavy-quark energy-loss mechanisms via angular correlations between heavy and light mesons

TL;DR

This paper investigates how angular correlations between heavy and light mesons can differentiate between collisional and radiative energy-loss mechanisms of heavy quarks in the quark-gluon plasma using Monte Carlo simulations.

Contribution

It introduces two Monte Carlo models to simulate and compare the effects of radiative and elastic interactions on heavy-quark jet angular correlations in the QGP.

Findings

Radiative models show angular broadening effects.

Elastic scattering models produce different correlation patterns.

Results help distinguish energy-loss mechanisms in heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

Two-particle correlations obtained from parton showers that pass the hot and dense medium of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) can be used as an alternative observable, in addition to the combination of the nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ and the elliptic flow $v_2$, to study the mechanisms of in-medium heavy quark energy-loss. In particular, angular correlations represent a promising tool to distinguish between energy loss due to collisional and radiative interactions of jet and medium particles. To this end, parton cascades were created in Monte-Carlo simulations, where individual particles can undergo both parton splitting as well as an effective jet-medium interaction. A first model simulates the effects of induced radiations on parton cascades. Its consequences on angular correlations of partons within jets were studied in detail, with particular focus on angular broadening. The results can be compared to a second model that effectively describes elastic scatterings of jet and medium particles.