Jets and Parton Energy Loss at RHIC: Experimental Status

Abstract

Experimental evidence from RHIC indicates that matter having an energy density far in excess of the value required for the creation of a deconfined phase is produced in ultrarelativistic Au+Au collisions at a center of mass energy of 200 GeV. This matter thermalizes rapidly, is strongly interacting, and displays hydrodynamic properties akin to a fluid with very low viscosity. Studies of the interaction of hard scattered partons with this matter provide an important probe of its properties. In fact, studies of the suppression of high-p_T hadrons have been one of the key arguments used by the RHIC experiments that the matter created is something fundamentally new and exciting. I review the current experimental picture that has emerged from the data collected at RHIC, with an emphasis on the effort to extract quantitative measurements from the suppression of high-p_T hadrons.