Elliptic Flow of Rare High-Momentum Probes in Nuclear Collisions

Abstract

In high energy nuclear collisions the leading parton of a jet can change flavor through interactions with the surrounding medium. This can considerably boost the relative yield of rare high momentum particles, like strange quarks and photons. We revisit these jet conversions and discuss implications for the azimuthal asymmetry $v_2$ of rare probes. We predict that the $v_2$ of kaons at RHIC falls significantly below that of pions and protons at high transverse momentum. Experimental information on the relative $v_2$ of strange hadrons could provide constraints on the mean free path of fast quarks and gluons in a quark gluon plasma.