Speaker
Denes Molnar
(Purdue University)
Description
The PHENIX Collaboration has argued that azimuthal angle dependent pi0 suppression in Au+Au at RHIC poses a challenge for perturbative QCD energy loss models. Recent work by Betz and Gyulassy on the other hand claims simultaneous reproduction of this set of observables with simple pQCD-motivated energy loss formulas, in contrast with our earlier finding that realistic transverse expansion strongly suppresses elliptic flow. We resolve the apparent contradiction via a study that contrasts different bulk medium evolution models (based on hydrodynamics and covariant transport) combined with different implementations of Djordjevic-Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev radiative energy loss for light partons and heavy quarks. A key new ingredient relative to earlier dE/dL and (D)GLV studies is that we pay special attention to formulate energy loss in a way that results do not depend on the calculational frame. We find that covariant formulation accentuates the interplay between bulk medium evolution and parton energy loss, and show how this affects light hadron and heavy flavor anisotropic flow.
Author
Denes Molnar
(Purdue University)
