Energy Loss in Light of the p/d-A Non-Null Control

by William Horowitz (University of Cape Town)

Thursday 5 Jun 2014, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Zurich

4/3-006 - TH Conference Room (CERN)

We examine the energy loss landscape in the context of the recent d- and, especially, p-A measurements from RHIC and LHC. Prior to the analysis of the "null" control runs, the RHIC and LHC data could be interpreted within a coherent picture of a probe weakly coupled to a plasma theoretically accessible via leading order pQCD. Simultaneously, the strong coupling picture of energy loss as represented by leading order AdS/CFT calculations oversuppressed LHC data when constrained by RHIC. Now with claims of hydrodynamics applicable to systems ostensibly only 1fm across and large enhancements in high-pT p/d-A data across multiple observables, one must reconsider the earlier conclusions. We argue that a strong-coupling picture of the plasma and energy loss is more compelling and suggest that future LHC measurements will help clarify our understanding of quark-gluon plasma physics.

Slides 140605(HIF)Horowitz.pdf 140605(HIF)Horowitz.pptx