Evolution of the Jet Opening Angle Distribution in Holographic Plasma

Abstract

We use holography to analyze the evolution of an ensemble of jets, with an initial probability distribution for their energy and opening angle as in proton-proton (pp) collisions, as they propagate through an expanding cooling droplet of strongly coupled plasma as in heavy ion collisions. We identify two competing effects: (i) each individual jet widens as it propagates and (ii) because wide-angle jets lose more energy, energy loss combined with the steeply falling perturbative spectrum serves to filter wide jets out of the ensemble at any given energy. Even though every jet widens, jets with a given energy can have a smaller mean opening angle after passage through the plasma than jets with that energy would have had in vacuum, as experimental data may indicate. .