A Comprehensive Analysis of Jet Quenching via a Hybrid Strong/Weak Coupling Model for Jet-Medium Interactions

Abstract

Within a hybrid strong/weak coupling model for jets in strongly coupled plasma, we explore jet modifications in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Our approach merges the perturbative dynamics of hard jet evolution with the strongly coupled dynamics which dominates the soft exchanges between the fast partons in the jet shower and the strongly coupled plasma itself. We implement this approach in a Monte Carlo, which supplements the DGLAP shower with the energy loss dynamics as dictated by holographic computations, up to a single free parameter that we fit to data. We then augment the model by incorporating the transverse momentum picked up by each parton in the shower as it propagates through the medium, at the expense of adding a second free parameter. We use this model to discuss the influence of the transverse broadening of the partons in a jet on intra-jet observables. In addition, we explore the sensitivity of such observables to the back-reaction of the plasma to the passage of the jet. Keywords: jet quenching, AdS/CFT, broadening, back-reaction