Speaker
Dr
Nathan Grau
(Augustana College)
Description
Fully reconstructed jets and hadrons correlated with a direct photon significantly reduce energy-loss bias, the bias toward measuring particles from partons which suffer little energy loss. In d+Au collisions, one accesses the physics at large $x$, which yields important constraints for nuclear parton distribution functions. In both d+Au and A+A collisions, coherent multiple-scattering models of energy loss can be tested. In this contribution, we present the current results from the PHENIX experiment on fully reconstructed jets and direct $\gamma$-hadron correlations. Baseline measurements of jets in p+p collisions as well as their yield and correlation modifications in d+Au and Cu+Cu will be given. From $\gamma$-hadron correlations, we present the fragmentation function in p+p and Au+Au collisions and its modification in Au+Au to lower $z_T$ than what has previously been studied. Implications of this data on our understanding of both cold and hot, dense nuclear matter created at RHIC are discussed.
Primary author
Dr
Nathan Grau
(Augustana College)
