Heavy Quark Jet Quenching with Collisional plus Radiative Energy Loss and Path Length Fluctuations

Abstract

With the QGP opacity computed perturbatively and with the global entropy constraints imposed by the observed d N c h / d y ≈ 1000 , radiative energy loss alone cannot account for the observed suppression of single non-photonic electrons. We show that collisional energy loss, which previously has been neglected, is comparable to radiative loss for both light and heavy jets and may in fact be the dominant mechanism for bottom quarks. Predictions taking into account both radiative and collisional losses significantly reduce the discrepancy with data. In addition to elastic energy loss, it is critical to include jet path length fluctuations to account for the observed pion suppression.