Results of a systematic study of dijet suppression measured at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Background: There has been much recent investigation into dijets at the Large Hadron Collider, but predictions for dijets at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) scales are lacking. Purpose: We present a systematic study of the dijet suppression at RHIC using the VNI/Bass-Muller-Srivastava parton cascade. Methods: We examine the modification of the dijet asymmetry A(j) and the within-cone transverse energy distribution (jet shape) along with partonic fragmentation distributions z and j(t) in terms of (q) over cap, the path length of leading and subleading jets, cuts on the jet energy distributions, the jet cone angle, and the jet-medium interaction mechanism. Results: We find that A(j) is most sensitive to (q) over cap and relatively insensitive to the nature of the jet-medium interaction mechanism. The jet profile is dominated by (q) over cap and the nature of the interaction mechanism. The partonic fragmentation distributions clearly show the jet modification and differentiate between elastic and radiative plus elastic modes. Conclusions: Dijets at RHIC scales are strongly modified by a quark-gluon plasma medium; measurements of their suppression will provide a vital additional data point for understanding the modification of hard probes.