Eur. Phys. J. C (2009) 61: 761-767
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-009-0880-y

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

First direct measurement of jets in heavy ion collisions by STAR

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS-70R0319, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

^* e-mail: ssalur@lbl.gov

Received: 8 September 2008
Revised: 14 December 2008
Published online: 5 February 2009

Abstract

We present the first measurement of reconstructed jets in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Utilizing the large coverage of the STAR Time Projection Chamber and Electromagnetic Calorimeter, we apply several modern jet reconstruction algorithms and background subtraction techniques and explore their systematic uncertainties in heavy ion events. The differential energy spectrum for inclusive jet production in central Au+Au collisions at is presented. In order to assess the jet reconstruction biases, this spectrum is compared with the jet cross section measured in  GeV p+p collisions scaled by the number of binary N–N collisions to account for nuclear geometric effects.