Mach cone induced by $\gamma$-triggered jets in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

MMedium excitation by jet shower propagation inside a quark-gluon plasma is studied within a linear Boltzmann transport and a multiphase transport model. Contrary to the naive expectation, it is the deflection of both the jet shower and the Mach-cone-like excitation in an expanding medium that is found to gives rise to a double-peak azimuthal particle distribution with respect to the initial jet direction. Such deflection is the strongest for hadron-triggered jets which are often produced close to the surface of dense medium due to trigger-bias and travel against or tangential to the radial flow. Without such trigger bias, the effect of deflection on $\gamma$-jet showers and their medium excitation is weaker. Comparative study of hadron and $\gamma$-triggered particle correlations can therefore reveal the dynamics of jet-induced medium excitation in high-energy heavy-ion collisions.

Comments: 4 pages in RevTeX with 5 figures, finally version in PRL