2025/11/21 by Silva, João M., Soto-Ontoso, Alba · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.17737
openalex publication_date 2025/11/21 · openalex created_date 2025/11/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Spin correlations are required to reproduce the correct azimuthal dependence of matrix elements for successive branchings at disparate angles in QCD jets. In this paper, we study modifications to this, cos(2ψ12), azimuthal pattern in the presence of a quark-gluon plasma. To that end, we consider a simplified setup in which a narrow and energetic QCD antenna is formed inside a medium of fixed length and radiates a collinear emission outside it. The calculation includes both light and heavy-quarks. Further, we do not include medium-induced spin-flip interactions since they are energy suppressed in our formalism. We show that the amplitude of the azimuthal modulation in the presence of a medium is always suppressed with respect to the vacuum baseline, with its magnitude depending on the medium properties and splitting kinematics. For a medium with a momentum space anisotropy, we find that the azimuthal modulation acquires a phase shift, i.e., cos(2ψ12) → cos(2ψ12+ϕ\rm med ), where ϕ\rm med is a process-dependent function that again depends on the medium properties and splitting kinematics. This work provides theory guidance for implementing spin-driven interference effects in phenomenological studies of jet quenching in heavy-ion collisions.