Toward a qualitative connection between the nuclear modification factors of hadrons and their quark component

Abstract

In this work, we propose a method qualitatively connecting the hadron nuclear modification factor to its quark component nuclear modification factor. A parton and hadron cascade model, PACIAE, based on PYTHIA6 is then employed calculating the hadron (in final hadronic state) and its quark component (in final partonic state) nuclear modification factors in the 0%–5% most central Pb + Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV. It turns out that the hadron nuclear modification factor is usually smaller than its quark component factor. On the other hand, the flavor (mass) ordering of the nuclear modification factor is investigated for a hadron in the final hadronic state and a quark in the final partonic state. It is found that the nuclear modification factor is more likely to be identified with the quarks and mesons but not with the baryons.