Measurement of away-side broadening with self-subtraction of flow in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV

Abstract

High transverse momentum (PT) particle production is suppressed owing to the parton (jet) energy loss in the hot dense medium created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Redistribution of energy at low-to-modest PT has been difficult to measure, owing to large anisotropic backgrounds. We report a data-driven method for background evaluation and subtraction, exploiting the away-side pseudorapidity gaps, to measure the jetlike correlation shape in Au+Au collisions at √SNN = 200 GeV in the STAR experiment. The correlation shapes, for trigger particles and various associated particle PT ranges within, are consistent with Gaussians, and their widths increase with centrality. The results indicate jet broadening in the medium created in central heavy-ion collisions.