Early evolution constrained by high-$p_T$ QGP tomography

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that high-$p_T$ observables like $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ can constrain the early expansion dynamics of the quark-gluon plasma using a new theoretical framework, DREENA-A, which integrates energy loss models with hydrodynamics.

Contribution

The study introduces the DREENA-A framework that combines advanced energy loss modeling with 3+1D hydrodynamics to analyze high-$p_T$ QGP tomography, revealing sensitivity to early expansion.

Findings

High-$p_T$ $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ are sensitive to early QGP expansion.

Heavy flavor observables show greater sensitivity to transverse expansion onset.

Bulk QGP behavior can be constrained by high-$p_T$ observables.

Abstract

We show that high-$p_T$ $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$ are sensitive to the early expansion dynamics, and that the high-$p_T$ observables prefer delayed onset of energy loss and transverse expansion. To calculate high-$p_T$ $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$, we employ our newly developed DREENA-A framework, which combines state-of-the-art dynamical energy loss model with 3+1-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. The model applies to both light and heavy flavor, and we predict a larger sensitivity of heavy flavor observables to the onset of transverse expansion. This presents the first time when bulk QGP behavior has been constrained by high-$p_\perp$ observables and related theory, i.e., by so-called QGP tomography.