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Guilherme Milhano

Publications and source records attributed to Guilherme Milhano.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

A generalized picture of colour decoherence in dense QCD media

We revisit the calculation of the soft gluon emission probability off a colour-singlet $q\bar q$ system that evolves in a quark-gluon plasma. The $q\bar q$ antenna is created in the presence of a medium and then emits a soft gluon outside. The gluon emission probability is modified with respect to the vacuum baseline due to interactions with the medium during the formation of the antenna and its propagation. Previous studies disregarded the former effect and found that the medium modification to the interference pattern of the antenna was controlled by the so-called critical angle $θ_c$, that exclusively depends on medium properties. We find that accounting for medium interactions during the antenna formation enhances the total rate of emissions off the $q\bar q$ antenna. Interestingly, it also promotes the notion of a critical angle to a dynamic quantity, denoted $\tildeθ_c$, that depends on both the medium and the antenna properties and is thus different for every splitting. As a consequence, depending on the region of parameter space, colour decoherence can either be delayed or accelerated with respect to previous estimates.

hep-ph

New physics searches with heavy-ion collisions at the LHC

This document summarises proposed searches for new physics accessible in the heavy-ion mode at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), both through hadronic and ultraperipheral $γγ$ interactions, and that have a competitive or, even, unique discovery potential compared to standard proton-proton collision studies. Illustrative examples include searches for new particles -- such as axion-like pseudoscalars, radions, magnetic monopoles, new long-lived particles, dark photons, and sexaquarks as dark matter candidates -- as well as new interactions, such as non-linear or non-commutative QED extensions. We argue that such interesting possibilities constitute a well-justified scientific motivation, complementing standard quark-gluon-plasma physics studies, to continue running with ions at the LHC after the Run-4, i.e. beyond 2030, including light and intermediate-mass ion species, accumulating nucleon-nucleon integrated luminosities in the accessible fb$^{-1}$ range per month.

hep-ph

On the breaking of Casimir scaling in jet quenching

We study the breaking of Casimir scaling, $C_F/C_A$, due to the evolution of jets in a hot and extended medium. By using JEWEL, a medium modified Monte Carlo event generator validated for a wide set of observables, we are able to study separately the development of quark and gluon-initiated jets produced back-to-back with a $Z-$boson. Focusing on the $p_T$ distribution, we conclude first that the colour charge ratio is constant but larger than Casimir scaling for high $p_T$ jets. In addition, our results seem to indicate that the medium induced cascade is more similar between quarks and gluons, thus driving the overall medium shower scaling away from the vacuum expectation. Finally, we compare our results to another Monte Carlo generator and observe the same scaling violation.

hep-ph

Jet substructure modification probes the QGP resolution length

We show the sensitivity of groomed jet substructure measurements to the finite resolution power of the QGP to disentangle multiple energetic partons, as produced by QCD jets, that traverse it simultaneously. We illustrate these effects by studying Soft Dropped observables within a hybrid strong/weak coupling model for jet-medium interactions. By analysing Monte-Carlo-generated jet data in heavy ion collisions, we show that the angular structure of these type of observables is sensitive to the value of the QGP resolution length.

hep-ph

Understanding wide jet suppression in data through the hybrid strong/weak coupling model

We explore a set of jet substructure observables that use grooming techniques such as the Soft Drop procedure by performing simulations with the hybrid strong/weak coupling model for jet quenching. The results obtained for the observables presented in this proceedings, namely the number of Soft Drop splittings, or $n_{\rm SD}$, and the sharing momentum distribution $z_g$ for different angular cuts between the two main branches in a jet, can be easily understood as arising from the fact that among all the jets with a given jet $p_T$, those jets which are wider in opening angle, meaning that they have a higher jet mass and come from showers featuring more splittings, tend to lose more energy than the narrower jets. We comment on the comparison to data from ALICE and CMS, and point out the caveats arising from the consideration of smearing effects due to the presence of a large fluctuating background.

hep-ph

A Simultaneous Description of Hadron and Jet Suppression in Heavy Ion Collisions

We present a global fit to all data on the suppression of high energy jets and high energy hadrons in the most central heavy ion collisions at the LHC for two different collision energies, within a hybrid strong/weak coupling quenching model. Even though the measured suppression factors for hadrons and jets differ significantly from one another and appear to asymptote to different values in the high energy limit, we obtain a simultaneous description of all these data after constraining the value of a single model parameter. We use our model to investigate the origin of the difference between the observed suppression of jets and hadrons and relate it, quantitatively, to the observed modification of the jet fragmentation function in jets that have been modified by passage through the medium produced in heavy ion collisions. In particular, the observed increase in the fraction of hard fragments in medium-modified jets, which indicates that jets with the fewest hardest fragments lose the least energy, corresponds quantitatively to the observed difference between the suppression of hadrons and jets. We argue that a harder fragmentation pattern for jets with a given energy after quenching is a generic feature of any mechanism for the interaction between jets and the medium that they traverse that yields a larger suppression for wider jets. We also compare the results of our global fit to LHC data to measurements of the suppression of high energy hadrons in RHIC collisions, and find that with its parameter chosen to fit the LHC data our model is inconsistent with the RHIC data at the $3σ$ level, suggesting that hard probes interact more strongly with the less hot quark-gluon plasma produced at RHIC.

hep-ph

A simultaneous understanding of jet and hadron suppression

In the context of the hybrid strong/weak coupling model for jet quenching, we perform a global fit to hadron and jet data in the most central bins both at RHIC and LHC. The qualitative and quantitative success of the analysis is attributed to the fact that the model correctly captures the fact that wider jets lose, on average, more energy than the narrower ones, to which high energy hadrons belong. We show how one can understand the relative jet and hadron suppression by analyzing the jet fragmentation functions, and also discuss the role of plasma finite resolution effects.

hep-ph

The angular structure of jet quenching within a hybrid strong/weak coupling model

Building upon the hybrid strong/weak coupling model for jet quenching, we incorporate and study the effects of transverse momentum broadening and medium response of the plasma to jets on a variety of observables. For inclusive jet observables, we find little sensitivity to the strength of broadening. To constrain those dynamics, we propose new observables constructed from ratios of differential jet shapes, in which particles are binned in momentum, which are sensitive to the in-medium broadening parameter. We also investigate the effect of the back-reaction of the medium on the angular structure of jets as reconstructed with different cone radii R. Finally we provide results for the so called "missing-pt", finding a qualitative agreement between our model calculations and data in many respects, although a quantitative agreement is beyond our simplified treatment of the hadrons originating from the hydrodynamic wake.

hep-ph

Angular Structure of Jet Quenching Within a Hybrid Strong/Weak Coupling Model

Within the context of a hybrid strong/weak coupling model of jet quenching, we study the modification of the angular distribution of the energy within jets in heavy ion collisions, as partons within jet showers lose energy and get kicked as they traverse the strongly coupled plasma produced in the collision. To describe the dynamics transverse to the jet axis, we add the effects of transverse momentum broadening into our hybrid construction, introducing a parameter $K\equiv \hat q/T^3$ that governs its magnitude. We show that, because of the quenching of the energy of partons within a jet, even when $K\neq 0$ the jets that survive with some specified energy in the final state are narrower than jets with that energy in proton-proton collisions. For this reason, many standard observables are rather insensitive to $K$. We propose a new differential jet shape ratio observable in which the effects of transverse momentum broadening are apparent. We also analyze the response of the medium to the passage of the jet through it, noting that the momentum lost by the jet appears as the momentum of a wake in the medium. After freezeout this wake becomes soft particles with a broad angular distribution but with net momentum in the jet direction. We show that the particles coming from the response of the medium to the momentum and energy deposited in it leads to a correlation between the momentum of soft particles well separated from the jet in angle with the direction of the jet momentum, and find qualitative but not quantitative agreement with experimental data on observables designed to extract such a correlation. By confronting the results that we obtain upon introducing transverse momentum broadening and the response of the medium to the jet with available jet data, we highlight the importance of these processes for understanding the internal, soft, angular structure of high energy jets.

hep-ph

In-medium jet evolution: interplay between broadening and decoherence effects

The description of the modifications of the coherence pattern in a parton shower, in the presence of a QGP, has been actively addressed in recent studies. Among the several achievements, finite energy corrections, transverse momentum broadening due to medium interactions and interference effects between successive emissions have been extensively improved as they seem to be essential features for a correct description of the results obtained in heavy-ion collisions. In this work, based on the insights of our previous work [1], we explore the physical interplay between broadening and decoherence, by generalising previous studies of medium-modifications of the antenna spectrum [2, 3, 4] - so far restricted to the case where transverse motion is neglected. The result allow us to identify two quantities controlling the decoherence of a medium modified shower that can be used as building blocks for a successful future generation of jet quenching Monte Carlo simulators: a generalisation of the $Δ_{med}$ parameter of the works of [2, 4] - that controls the interplay between the transverse scale of the hard probe and the transverse resolution of the medium - and of the $Δ_{coh}$ in [1] - that dictates the interferences between two emitters as a function of the transverse momentum broadening acquired by multiple scatterings with the medium.

hep-ph

The sensitivity of R_pA to color recombination effects

In hadronization models with color recombination, partons are allowed to regroup into color singlet structures that are different from those determined by the perturbative parton shower. This aims at modeling the possibility that soft interactions of partons with the underlying event can change color connections. If such an effect is at play in proton-proton collisions, it may be expected to be enhanced in proton-nucleus collisions due to the higher color charge density in the underlying event. Here, we provide a qualitative argument that color recombination effects could lead to a multiplicity dependent hardening of single inclusive hadron spectra that dies out very weakly with increasing transverse momentum. We present results of a (conservative) model implementation in the cluster hadronization model of the SHERPA event generator. In this model, we find that color recombination effects harden indeed the single inclusive hadron spectra without affecting the jet spectra, but that this effect does not depend significantly on underlying event activity. We explain this model feature and we argue why, in general, data on proton-nucleus collisions can help to constrain hadronization models used in proton-proton event generators.

nucl-th

Towards a consistent description of in-medium parton branching

Ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions are a window of opportunity to study QCD matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density, such as the quark-gluon plasma. Among the several possibilities, the study of jet quenching - generic name given to in-medium energy loss modifications of the parton branching - is a powerful tool to assess the properties of this new state of matter. The description of the parton shower is very well understood in vacuum (controlled reference) and medium-induced modifications of this process can be experimentally accessed through jet measurements. Current experimental data, however, cannot be entirely described only with energy loss phenomena. Transverse momentum broadening and decoherence effects, both theoretically established by now, and their interplay are essential to build a consistent picture of the medium-modifications of the parton branching and to achieve a correct description of the current experimental data. In this write-up, we will present the latest developments that address such unified description.

hep-ph

Energy loss and (de)coherence effects beyond eikonal approximation

The parton branching process is known to be modified in the presence of a medium. Colour decoherence processes are known to determine the process of energy loss when the density of the medium is large enough to break the correlations between partons emitted from the same parent. In order to improve existing calculations that consider eikonal trajectories for both the emitter and the hardest emitted parton, we provide in this work, the calculation of all finite energy corrections for the gluon radiation off a quark in a QCD medium that exist in the small angle approximation and for static scattering centres. Using the path integral formalism, all particles are allowed to undergo Brownian motion in the transverse plane and the offspring allowed to carry an arbitrary fraction of the initial energy. The result is a general expression that contains both coherence and decoherence regimes that are controlled by the density of the medium and by the amount of broadening that each parton acquires independently.

hep-ph

Medium-induced gluon radiation beyond the eikonal approximation

In this work we improve existing calculations of radiative energy loss by computing corrections that implement energy-momentum conservation, previously only implemented a posteriori, in a rigorous way. Using the path-integral formalism, we compute in-medium splittings allowing transverse motion of all particles in the emission process, thus relaxing the assumption that only the softest particle is permitted such movement. This work constitutes the extension of the computation carried out for x$\rightarrow$1 in Phys. Lett. B718 (2012) 160-168, to all values of x, the momentum fraction of the energy of the parent parton carried by the emitted gluon. In order to accomplish a general description of the whole in-medium showering process, in this work we allow for arbitrary formation times for the emitted gluon. We provide general expressions and their realisation in the path integral formalism within the harmonic oscillator approximation.

hep-ph