arXiv subjects

Isobel Kolbé

Publications and source records attributed to Isobel Kolbé.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Flow plus coalescence explain hadron nuclear modification and high-$p_T$ anisotropy

It has long been a puzzle why the nuclear modification factor in relativistic $p$Pb collisions is consistent with unity, while the high-$p_T$ elliptic flow is significantly positive. The latter is traditionally interpreted as path-length-dependent energy loss, whereas the former is consistent with zero energy loss. In this Letter, we propose that even at high $p_T$ a hard parton coalesces with a boosted thermal medium parton whose energy is correlated with the angle-dependent radial flow. We compare this flow for $pp$, $p$Pb, $p$O, OO and PbPb collision systems and conclude in particular that the $p$Pb flow is large and anisotropic. The collective medium pushes out the hard partons, and more so in $p$Pb, or in-plane, than in $pp$ collisions, or out-of-plane. The mechanism qualitatively agrees with experiment and predicts a significantly smaller elliptic flow signal for jets than for hadrons.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2026

Three Predictions for Partonic Energy Loss from Light to Heavy Ion Collisions

In July 2025 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collided $^{16}$O$^{16}$O and $^{20}$Ne$^{20}$Ne isotopes in a quest to understand the physics of ultrarelativistic light ion collisions. One of the key motivations for this run is to discover partonic energy loss in systems with a small quark-gluon plasma (QGP). In this letter we combine a BDMPS-Z based model, a weighted path based energy loss prescription, and JEWEL together with two realistic geometries of the $^{16}$O and $^{20}$Ne isotopes. The different sizes of the ions affect the energy loss in characteristically different ways depending on the model.

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arXiv2026

Momentum Broadening in the Opacity Expansion: All-Path-Length Corrections and Improved Regge Kinematics

We present a detailed study of momentum broadening and the jet transport coefficient $\hat{q}$ for high-energy partons traversing the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), extending the Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev (GLV) formalism to include both all-path-length (APL) and sub-Regge kinematical corrections. Traditional GLV calculations rely on the large separation distance and large formation time approximations, which are valid for large systems but whose applicability to small systems, such as $pp$ and $p/d$A collisions, may fail. We derive analytic expressions for the momentum broadening distributions and $\hat{q}$ to first order in the opacity expansion, and perform a detailed numerical investigation to quantify their impact. The APL correction suppresses momentum broadening at low $p_{\perp}$, with a correction scaling as $\propto 1/(L\, p_{\perp})$ that dominates for small systems, while converging to the standard GLV result at large $L$. The sub-Regge kinematical correction enhances momentum broadening at high $p_{\perp}$, becoming significant when the transverse momentum transfer approaches the magnitude of the parton's large light-cone momentum component, and vanishing in the Regge limit where this ratio is small. When both corrections are combined, the sub-Regge kinematical correction partially mitigates the suppression induced by the APL term; in the case of $\hat{q}$, this mitigation is essentially complete, with $\hat{q}_{(\mathrm{APL+SUB})}$ found to coincide closely with the standard GLV result. These findings demonstrate that sub-Regge kinematical corrections can resolve the long-standing problem of large negative energy-loss contributions at high energies identified in earlier studies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Colour coherence in small collision systems

The observation of collectivity in collisions of small systems has constituted a challenge for the heavy-ion community for over a decade now. The absence of jet quenching in those systems presents an apparent contradiction to the presence of an azimuthal anisotropy of high-$p_\perp$ particles. In the present work, we investigate the role of colour coherence in this puzzle. For that, we use the \textsc{Jewel} Monte Carlo model in its latest version, which includes effects of colour coherence in the jet-medium interactions. We then compare the two scenarios, with and without colour coherence, and quantify the effect on hadron and jet $R_{AA}$ as well as on high-$p_\perp$ $v_2$. The results indicate that, although coherence effects do account for an increase in $R_{AA}$, they do not affect $v_2$ to the same extent. Using hydrodynamic profiles generated with \textit{Trajectum} we compare O+O and Pb+Pb collisions at the same charged particle multiplicity and find that the nuclear modification factors are the same in both systems despite their different shapes.

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arXiv2023

JEWEL on a (2+1)D background with applications to small systems and substructure

High-$p_T$ jets are an important tool for characterizing the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in heavy-ion collisions. However, a precise understanding of the jet-medium interaction is still lacking, and the development of more sophisticated observables is needed. This work presents a tool that allows for the exploration of alternative high-$p_T$ observables in a variety of collision systems. The tool builds on the publicly available JEWEL Monte Carlo code, and allows for the evolution of a jet on any given (2+1)-dimensional background. Proof-of-concept observables are also presented, studied using the latest version of JEWEL, JEWEL-2.4.0. The simplicity of the separation of the physics of the jet from the physics of the medium (while still allowing for the usual JEWEL medium-response), allows for easy interpretation without the need for complex parameterization. Results are produced using the RIVET toolkit, which allows for transparent preservation and development of analyses that are compatible with experimental methods. The code and analysis used to produce the plots presented here are made publicly available on a Github repository, with up-to-date usage instructions. This tool is expected to be useful to the broad jet-physics community for the study of precision observables for jets.

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arXiv2021

Distribution of Nuclear Matter and Radiation in the Fragmentation Region

We study the fragmentation (far forward/backward) region of heavy ion collisions by considering an at-rest nucleus which is struck by a relativistic sheet of colored glass. By means of a simple classical model, we calculate the subsequent evolution of baryons and the associated radiation. We confirm that the struck nucleus undergoes a compression and that the dynamics of the early times of the collision are best described by two separate fluids as the produced radiation's velocity distribution is very different to the velocity distribution of the matter in the struck nucleus.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Geometrically confined thermal field theory: Finite size corrections and phase transitions

Motivated by the recent shocking results from RHIC and LHC that show quark-gluon plasma signatures in small systems, we study a simple model of a massless, noninteracting scalar field confined with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We use this system to investigate the finite size corrections to thermal field theoretically derived quantities compared to the usual Stefan-Boltzmann limit of an ideal gas not confined in any direction. Two equivalent expressions with different numerical convergence properties are found for the free energy in $D$ rectilinear spacetime dimensions with $c\le D-1$ spatial dimensions of finite extent. We find that the First Law of Thermodynamics generalizes such that the pressure depends on direction but that the Third Law is respected. For systems with finite dimension(s) but infinite volumes, such as a field constrained between two parallel plates or a rectangular tube, the relative fluctuations in energy are zero, and hence the canonical and microcanonical ensembles are equivalent. We present precise numerical results for the free energy, total internal energy, pressure, entropy, and heat capacity of our field between parallel plates, in a tube, and in finite volume boxes of various sizes in 4 spacetime dimensions. For temperatures and system sizes relevant for heavy ion phenomenology, we find large deviations from the Stefan-Boltzmann limit for these quantities, especially for the pressure. Further investigation of an isolated system of fields constrained between parallel plates reveals a divergent isoenergetic compressibility at a critical length $L_c\sim1/T$. We have thus discovered a new second order phase transition via a first principles calculation, a transition that is driven by the size of the system.

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arXiv2020

Inclusive prompt photon-jet correlations as a probe of gluon saturation in electron-nucleus scattering at small $x$

We compute the differential cross-section for inclusive prompt photon$+$quark production in deeply inelastic scattering of electrons off nuclei at small $x$ ($e+A$ DIS) in the framework of the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory. The result is expressed as a convolution of the leading order (in the strong coupling $α_{\mathrm{s}}$) impact factor for the process and universal dipole matrix elements, in the limit of hard photon transverse momentum relative to the nuclear saturation scale $Q_{s,A}(x)$. We perform a numerical study of this process for the kinematics of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), exploring in particular the azimuthal angle correlations between the final state photon and quark. We observe a systematic suppression and broadening pattern of the back-to-back peak in the relative azimuthal angle distribution, as the saturation scale is increased by replacing proton targets with gold nuclei. Our results suggest that photon+jet final states in inclusive $e+A$ DIS at high energies are in general a promising channel for exploring gluon saturation that is complementary to inclusive and diffractive dijet production. They also provide a sensitive empirical test of the universality of dipole matrix elements when compared to identical measurements in proton-nucleus collisions. However because photon+jet correlations at small $x$ in EIC kinematics require jet reconstruction at small $k_\perp$, it will be important to study their feasibility relative to photon-hadron correlations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Short path length corrections to Djordjevic-Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev energy loss

We compute the correction to the energy loss of a hard parton due to short separation distances between the creation of the particle and the in-medium scattering center that stimulates bremsstrahlung radiation, to first order in opacity. In deriving the result we make full use of the large formation time assumption, which results in a significant reduction of the number of diagrams contributing to the small separation distance correction. An asymptotic analysis of our small separation distance correction term finds that the correction dominates at large $\sim 100$ GeV parent parton energies; scales like $L$ with the size of the system for small $L$, but like $L^0$ at larger $L$; and breaks color triviality. An extensive numerical investigation of the correction term confirms the aforementioned analytic findings, reveals that the correction term does not go to zero for large $L$, finds that the correction is sensitive to the mass of the parent parton, and shows a crucial dependence of the energy loss on a proper treatment of the physics of separation distances on the order of the Debye screening length. However, an examination of the large formation time approximation shows that it is violated for much of the phase space of the emitted radiation, implying a need to investigate the sensitivity of jet quenching results from relaxing this approximation. Our result constitutes an important step toward understanding partonic energy loss in small colliding systems.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Anisotropic pressure induced by finite-size effects in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory

We study the pressure anisotropy in anisotropic finite-size systems in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory at nonzero temperature. Lattice simulations are performed on lattices with anisotropic spatial volumes with periodic boundary conditions. The energy-momentum tensor defined through the gradient flow is used for the analysis of the stress tensor on the lattice. We find that a clear finite-size effect in the pressure anisotropy is observed only at a significantly shorter spatial extent compared with the free scalar theory, even when accounting for a rather large mass in the latter.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2018

From Heavy-Ion Collisions to Compact Stars: Equation of State and Relevance of the System Size

In this article, we start by presenting state-of-the-art methods allowing us to compute moments related to the globally conserved baryon number, by means of first principle resummed perturbative frameworks. We focus on such quantities for they convey important properties of the finite temperature and density equation of state, being particularly sensitive to changes in the degrees of freedom across the quark-hadron phase transition. We thus present various number susceptibilities along with the corresponding results as obtained by lattice quantum chromodynamics collaborations, and comment on their comparison. Next, omitting the importance of coupling corrections and considering a zero-density toy model for the sake of argument, we focus on corrections due to the small size of heavy-ion collision systems, by means of spatial compactifications. Briefly motivating the relevance of finite size effects in heavy-ion physics, in opposition to the compact star physics, we present a few preliminary thermodynamic results together with the speed of sound for certain finite size relativistic quantum systems at very high temperature.

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