Particle production at large $p_T$ in Xe+Xe collisions with jet quenching using the higher twist approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates high transverse momentum particle production in Xe+Xe collisions at 5.44 TeV using NLO pQCD with medium-modified fragmentation functions to incorporate jet quenching effects, providing predictions aligned with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a higher-twist approach to model jet quenching effects in particle production at large p_T in Xe+Xe collisions, with predictions validated against experimental data.

Findings

Predicted nuclear modification factors match experimental data.

Particle ratios as functions of p_T are consistent across collision systems.

Scaled charged hadron ratios agree with CMS measurements.

Abstract

The production of $\pi^0$, $\eta$, and $\phi$ in the most central (0%-5%) Xe+Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV is investigated in the framework of the perturbative QCD (pQCD) improved parton model at an accuracy of next-to-leading order (NLO). The jet quenching effect is effectively incorporated by medium-modified fragmentation functions via the higher-twist approach. Predictions of the nuclear modification factors of $\pi^0$, $\eta$, and $\phi$ as functions of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ are made with the jet transport parameter $\hat{q}_0$, which is extracted from the available experimental data of charged hadrons provided by ALICE and CMS. The particle ratios $\eta/\pi^0,\ \phi/\pi^0$ as functions of $p_{\rm T}$ in Xe+Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV as well as in 0%-5% Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are also presented. The numerical simulations of the scaled ratios of charged hadron production in the Xe+Xe 5.44 TeV system over those in the Pb+Pb 5.02 TeV system give a good description of the CMS data, and the scaled ratios of $\pi^0$, $\eta$, and $\phi$ production coincide with the curve of charged hadron production.