When in a Plasma of Quarks and Gluons, Not All Jets Radiate Equally
Department of Energy, Office of ScienceColliding nuclei at high speeds melts their constituent quarks and gluons into a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Quarks and gluons from the colliding nuclei also sometimes ricochet off one another very early on in the collision and form sprays of energetic particles known as jets. These jets lose their energy as they exit the plasma, with wide jets losing more energy than narrow jets. Researchers have confirmed that the plasma treats each prong of a jet independently only when the prongs are separated by a sufficiently large angle.