Jet Quenching in Heavy Ion Collisions

TL;DR

The paper addresses how to characterize the properties of ultra-dense, strongly interacting matter produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions by examining medium-induced parton energy loss and jet fragmentation (jet quenching). It positions this problem within QCD, highlighting differences from electromagnetic energy loss and the non-Abelian nature of the medium. It surveys the generic physics content a complete theory of medium-induced energy loss must capture and discusses heuristic modeling approaches in this broader context. It emphasizes the use of high-$Q^2$ hard processes at RHIC and LHC to generate calibrated projectiles that propagate through the dense medium, enabling extraction of medium-modification effects and connections to fundamental QCD matter properties.

Abstract

This review article was prepared for the Landolt-Boernstein volume on Relativisitc Heavy Ion Physics.